The Skate Park
by Tallulah Grammar Songstress
Summary: The Rokkakus have built a nice, new skate park for the rudies of Tokyoto. Gum's not too happy about it but she's not the only one...My first collaboration fic, between me and Tei Sama!
1. Nooo! I can't remember the cool chapter...

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A/N: Hi, it's Tallulah here. This fic was co-written by me and Tei/Disk (also known as Tei, Tei Sama, Disk, Disk the GG, Disk Pantalaimon, Disk Skellington, Disk GIR and Crazy Bicycle Crotch.) He had the idea, he asked me to collaborate with him, and the fic was originally posted under his name. I'll always be grateful to him for being responsible for the creation of this fic. Sadly, he's now quit ff.net after a disagreement over censorship, essays, NC-17s, etc. So I'm reposting Skate Park. I hope you enjoy it.

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A/N from Tei/Disk: Nihao! Upon writing a vast array of fanfics, Disk tends to find himself getting GREAT ideas but not quite enough time to apply them to any one particular fanfic. Such an example is one I got recently, one which had such great potential that I couldn't ignore it--instead, I've decided to take a new approach, and I asked another author if they'd like to collaborate with me on it. So now, it's our great pleasure to present this Tallulah and Disk Production called--

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SKATE PARK

Chapter 1

By Disk ;)

Beat whistled and nodded his approval.

It was large--it took up a good portion of Center Point on its own. There were sections with so many different things to grind on--rails, walls, stairs, and more--that was so crowded with such things that Combo and Cube had taken to calling it Little Grind City. there were half-pipes, quarter pipes, walls, empty pools, bridges, ramps, straight-aways, mazes. It was just unbelievable the amount of crap the city and the Rokkaku Group had managed to cram in such a place! But by far, the most impressive of all was the full-pipe, which started to the left of the entrance and slanted downward, twisting and curving like a sinewy snake underneath the entirety of the park, only to reemerge in the far left corner of the entire property. It was goliath in comparison to even the half-pipe in Shibuya's sewers! Dotting the premises were several different kinds of snack shacks, with a daily charge of all-you-can-eat for one hundred yen, and great wooden telephone poles shot up into the sky, dutifully hanging large speakers that would soon constantly pump Jet Set Radio like a live-giving blood transfusion to any Rudies in need of a fix. The entire setup was surrounded by metal fence, and the large gate hung open so wide that six Poison Jammers and Slate could have walked in abreast.

The cool part was that, once that red ribbon was gone, the gates would never close. Ever.

Toji Rokkaku was standing on a raised podium in front of the park, looking slick with his combed-back hair, stiff-starched business suit, and square glasses. He was giving a speech to the assembled citizens, Rudies and press that included long words that escaped Beat's current vocabulary and lots of sweeping gestures. Most of it revolved around how Tokyo's supposed street-trash had risen up in a time of crisis for the town and saved everyone from the evil devisings of his father, but the GGs (and the rest of the Rudies, of course) already knew the story, and most of what Toji was talking about he'd pulled out of his ass anyway, so they were all just waiting there impatiently for their greatest triumph in all of Tokyo--excluding the events of the Final Groove, of course.

Of course, what would a town celebration be without "Shorty" Onishima there? He stood behind and to the right of Toji, looking as photogenic as a cow pie and wearing a scowl that made little children have nightmares. He was _pissed_ about this particular event and especially his role in it.

The Rudies were being rewarded for saving Tokyo. The Rokkaku Group, as a way of showing thanks, had put this giant funspace together in a month to show their profound thanks for "clearing the slate," one-upping the Rhinos and offing Goji as they did in so many words. Rudieism was still illegal, but the skate park, Toji hoped, would keep the Rudies out of trouble as long as they had a big enough place to play in. Everything about being a Rudie was legal within the confines of the metal fence, and nowhere else.

Toji was actually very cool about Rudies, and if it weren't for the fact that he needed to make a good impression out of himself for the rest of the city, he'd probably have turned a blind eye towards the graffiti and the roller blading and the music, Beat thought. He smirked wryly at the thought, but split into a giant grin as Toji finished his speech and turned to Onishima.

"With this, I would like to have Police Captain Onishima Rezo christen this skate park in the name of all Rudies across the country." Toji, wearing a cool smirk, passed Onishima a pair of oversized golden scissors, which the pig snatched away begrudgingly. Grumbling to himself under his breath, Onishima tromped over to the red line of fabric preventing Beat from the best time of his out-of-bed life. He opened the scissors wide and brought them over the ribbon, hands trembling with the rage and disgrace that bubbled over so much that he was visibly shaking. Beat and Tab whooped from the crowd, and began chanting Onishima's most _favorite _nickname very loudly.

"SHOR-TY! SHOR-TY! SHOR-TY! SHOR-TY!"

Other Rudies, not just GGs, joined in the rising chant, until it was chorusing throughout the entire assemblage. Everyone who wasn't chanting was screaming in hysterical laughter, and even Toji allowed a chuckle to escape his wealthy lips.

For an eternity, Onishima held the scissors open over the ribbon, his entire body quaking all over with each "SHOR-TY" that rose up from the crowd until at last he screamed and snapped the blades closed. The ribbon didn't even get to flutter to the ground as Rudies from Benten, Kogane and Shibuya stampeded through, around, and over people to get inside. _Let Mom Sleep_ started to scream over the speakers mounted on the wooden poles, Yo-Yo tripped as the ribbon stuck between his wheels, and Onishima would spend the next three weeks pulling Poison Jam scales from his teeth and figuring out interesting new ways to sit down without hurting all over.

Mew lazed back against one side of a southern-section snack shack, letting the warmth of the midday sun shine down upon her, making her seem like the damn laziest angel that anyone'd ever seen. She had her eyes closed and her hands behind her head, and she was wearing an electric-blue grin. It was at that time that Slate collapsed at her feet with a _whoosh_ of air, to whom Mew opened an eye at.

"What's going on with you?" She sniggered.

"Already, the Noise Tanks and Poison Jam are causing trouble in the northeast and northwest," Slate grumbled, his nose pressed to the concrete. "They've taken Chi-gane and Chi-benten."

"What about the Love Shockers and the renegades?"

"They've made their own districts in the southeast and the west, called Shockworld and Lost Angles. It'll make it a lot easier on us in Chi-buya without so many loose cannons. Combo and Cube have gone off to Little Grind City and claimed it for their own."

"How many times have Beat and Tab made idiotic and clichéd war challenges and rushed into enemy turf before coming back more tagged than the buses on the bus route?"

"I've lost count. Last time it was about five."

"I see." Mew giggled this time. "What about the giant full-pipe?"

"That's freeground," Slate mumbled to the ground. "Nobody's _daring_ to take that place. It's just too cool."

"How does baking concrete smell that close?"

"Not too well, actually. And I should know with this schnozz of mine..."

Mew giggled again. She drew her legs closer to her body and draped her arms over her knees. She took a glance up to the clear blue sky, and allowed a passive sigh to escape her lightening-colored lips.

"You know," She said, more to herself than to Slate, "Gum's not aware of what she's missing."

"She's plenty aware, all right," Slate argued, finally pushing himself up from the concrete and standing up full height, brushing his frontside free of dirt. "That's why she's not here in the first place."

"Aww! That's no excuse to drag Garam away from all the fun!"

"For those two, this wouldn't be the same," Slate shook his head. "Gum gets thrills from being chased by Keisatsu, and Garam thinks that this whole idea makes being a Rudie too easy. A few of our rivals feel the same way."

Mew shrugged, and clambered to her skates as well. "I still think they're being dumb. This place is great! Legal Rudieism...I never thought it'd happen. I never gave a damn about it, but here it is, and it's so cool..."

****

Shibuya

Gum snorted as she left a quick mark on the billboard high above the bus terminal. Far below, she could see Garam skating around and tagging whatever he could, working like a possessed fly that had grown incredibly bored in the meantime.

"What's wrong with them?" She growled, not quite sure who she was implying by saying "them." She shook her arm violently and crated an unusually angular tag on the roof of one of the buildings, dark and heavy, thick with emotions that she couldn't quite sort out.

Garam finished down below and headed for the stairs on one building's side, grinding up the safety rail, and popping up to the top of the building itself. He breezed past Gum and flashed a peace sign before jumping a gap and landing on a different roof, placing his Tokyo Underground tag between two heating pipes.

Gum groaned halfway through her tag and pitched the spraypaint can over the edge, it landing in the street and exploding all over the front hood of a nice car. Now it was shiny red with dark splotches streaking off, and the driver failed to take any notice, continuing to drive onward.

"Forget it," She snorted, jumping over to Garam and grabbing him by the arm. "The Keisatsu aren't coming."

"Huh? Aww, at least let me finish this tag--" Garam started, but Gum shook her head violently.

"We've been out here for an hour and a half," Gum growled. "They should have been here _ages_ ago! I guess they're too busy having fun eating donuts at that damned skate park."

Garam shrugged. "Then we ought to be using this time wisely. We could take back Center Street and all the territory we lost to the Love Shockers when Combo, Tab, Piranha and Mew had the flu."

"What's the bloody point?!" Gum shrieked, giving another guttural growl. Her hands were balled into tight fists and her arms were at her sides. "The Love Shockers are all at the skate park! So are the Poison Jam and Noise Tanks! Even the damned Keisatsu! We could take all of Tokyo in a day like this! And you tell me, Buggy, where's the bloody challenge in that?"

Garam sighed and sat down on the roof, crossing his legs. "You've got a lot of good points. This really _isn't_ much fun, is it?"

Gum let out a flustered breath and began to settle. She closed her eyes, counted to ten, and spoke again. "No, this isn't fun. But I refuse to set my big toe into the property of that skate park."

"I think we're being too critical," Garam noted. "It's a skate park. We can go there and stir up as much trouble as we want. We won't have to be bored out of our skulls."

"But being a Rudie in the skate park means nothing! You might as well be your average extreme sports athlete, only you can paint at the same time." Gum sneered at the thought of that wretched park. "And I'd rather not give up the only title I've got to me."

"All right, all right...geez." Garam didn't get up. "Let's at least hang out and listen to Jet Set Radio or something."

"Fine," Gum replied, sitting down on the baking concrete roof across from Garam. Together, the pair tuned into Jet Set Radio from their wrist radios, and Professor K's milk-chocolate voice rode out to greet them in his usual manner.

"JET SET RADIO! Hey, all you boys and girls out there in Rudieland, the new skatepark's now officially open and ready to serve you!"

Gum rolled her eyes. Professor K went on about the specs and perks of the park, and after what seemed like an hour-long episode of the Teletubbies, finally got onto the news that was worth listening to.

"Hey! The Golden Rhinos have been silenced forever thanks to the GGs, but the Keisatsu and the Rokkaku Group are still digging deep into the bowels of the operation that only Goji's most trusted men knew about! Toji Rokkaku was disgusted by a lot of the loathsome creatures Goji'd been creating down there--that's right, creating! The Golden Rhinos' scientific end had a branch dedicated to the creation of _chimeras_, man-made hybrids of many different species! One of the cages they found deep below the Rokkaku Tower's remains was empty, but while Onishima expressed profound worry for his job--I mean, the citizens of Tokyo, Toji just deemed it as something to brush off his crotch. Whatever was in there could have been taken out before the tower collapsed and put to sleep, _if_ there was anything in there in the first place. If Goji were still alive, he'd be up for so many manslaughter and torture charges that you'd be able to put 'em all in a Chinese phone book-sized thing and smack him silly with it!"

Gum groaned. That wasn't interesting! With an aggravated sigh, she pushed to her feet and skated away, shaking her head in disappointment. Going back to the Garage would be a good idea. Maybe she could watch a movie or something.


	2. Man, we're bored

Chapter Two – by Tallulah

Gum groaned. Sunset was streaming in through the window over her face, and her head felt like it was collapsing from the inside.

She'd never felt so bored in her entire life. Movies had blurred into each other as she and Garam stared vacantly at the screen. The garage had grown hotter and hotter, and now her head was ringing with the humidity.

There was a clatter of skates outside the garage.

Gum winced as her eyes narrowed.

She was pissed.

She glanced over at Garam, who was slumped over against the side of the car, and then at the garage door as it swung open.

Beat and Mew walked in, both laughing about something, speckled with paint. 

"Hey," Mew called. 

"Where're the others?" Gum snapped, her throat stinging as she spoke.

"Still at the park," Beat said. "We just came to pick up some more paint."

"You gonna start sleeping there?"

"Ah, come on," Mew said. "It's only six o'clock. You've stayed out on the streets way later than that."

"Yeah," Gum snapped. "The _streets. _Being a rudie. That's different."

Mew sighed. "Look, Gum, I don't want to fight with you, but I think you're way off base on this one. We're still rudies, aren't we? We still skate, we still tag…"

"But it's not the same!" Gum yelled as her head pounded behind her eyeballs. "You're like kept rudies! We don't do what bigshots like Toji Rokkaku want us to do, we do what we want to do! We express ourselves to the world, don't we?"

"Gum, please –"

"You're not expressing yourselves to anyone except each other. You're like – you're like little kids in a playground. You're not real rudies at all."

"Oh, geez!" Mew threw her hands up in frustration. "You're just being pig-headed!"

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are, if you weren't you'd come with us and actually enjoy it."

"Enjoy what?" Gum squinted as a sunbeam caught her in the eye. "Enjoy playing at being rudies? No thanks, Mew. I'll stick to real life."

Mew scowled, and walked over to Garam. Nudging him awake with her foot, she said, "Garam? Why don't you come?"

"Uhhh…to the skate park?"

Mew nodded, and smiled. 

Garam looked over at Gum. "You coming?"

Gum shook her head, gritting her teeth so hard they felt as if they'd grind through her jaw. 

"Nah, I'll pass this time," Garam said, flopping back against the car.

"Why?" Beat said. "You two both look like you're going brain-dead."

"It's not my type of thing," Garam said. 

"And it damn well isn't mine," Gum said, glaring at the other two GGs.

"Fine," Mew said. "Your loss."

Gum watched as Mew and Beat skated out of the garage, and then collapsed back onto the sofa. 

Her hair was sticking to her skin. Her arms felt like they'd faint if she asked them to do anything. And the headache gripped her skull like a raven.

"I hate the skate park!" she yelled at last. 

"I sort of guessed," Garam muttered from the car. "You want to go out and tag some more?"

"No." Gum pictured the empty streets, and scowled. 

"How long is this gonna go on for?" Garam said.

"Until they stop going to that stupid park. Because even if every rudie in Tokyo-to goes there…which it seems like they do…I'm not. They can't make me."

"But…then we'll be the only rudies left out here, and we can see ourselves how shit that is."

"Then you think of something to do," Gum snapped, sitting bolt upright and glaring at the shadows covering Garam. "Because I have had it with all this."

Piranha gazed up at the darkening sky, and grinned. This had been one of the best days she'd ever spent. Nothing to do but skate and tag and eat, and no one to try and kill her for doing it. She couldn't stop a huge grin covering her face.

She stood at the entrance to the full-pipe, her shadow falling away into its shady depths. She dashed forward, then leapt, wall-riding to the left, jumping sideways and wall-riding on the opposite side, the clatter of her skates echoing down the tunnel. 

At last, about halfway along, she missed the wall, and landed on the ground. Giggling, she reached round and put a tag on the concrete behind her. The full-pipe was bare of any other tags at the moment – as Slate had said, no one had dared to take it. 

Piranha grinned. Well, she had to break the mould then, didn't she?

She shook up another paint can and started doing an X-tra large tag. That took her round the corner, and she'd just finished it when she crashed into a dark figure –

"Yipe!" Piranha spun to face the intruder, and realised it was a Love Shocker. 

"What are you doing in here, GG?" the Love Shocker demanded. "I thought we were saying this place was neutral territory."

"What are _you _doing in here?" Piranha retorted, staring pointedly at the girl's paint can.

The Love Shocker shrugged. "I'm looking for a friend."

"Oh, yeah, sure you are."

The rudie gave her a nasty brown-eyed glare, but before she could answer more voices echoed down the full-pipe.

"Kell? You still here?"

"Yeah."

"Shar in here?"

"Nope. I guess she went home or something."

Two other Love Shockers came towards them. One looked like a normal Love Shocker – tall, vicious, and scowling – but the other was smaller, and her hair, instead of being short and spiky, was long and had been fastened into two plaits.

"Why're you looking for someone down here?" Piranha asked.

Kell shrugged. "We've been looking all over the park for her and this was the last place we saw her. Moron."

"Don't worry," the smaller Love Shocker said. "She probably just went back to the HQ or something. Right, Dash?"

The taller Love Shocker nodded. "We'll find her, Kell."

"I'm not worried about her," Kell said. "I'm just pissed. Her disappearing like this is getting on my nerves."

She turned to face Piranha. "If you're not out of here during the next ten seconds, I will tag your ass so hard you won't be able to sit down."

"I'm supposed to be scared?" Piranha shook her paint can. "Catch me if you can, broken hearts."

She leapt, and began wall-riding again, and heard shouts behind her as the Love Shockers strove to catch up. 

Piranha grinned. She _loved _this place.

Gum tried to focus on the car. It looked like it had developed a hump.

She blinked again, and saw that it was Yo-Yo, asleep on top of it.

Why the hell couldn't she sleep? 

Rolling over, she glanced at her watch. 2:56 in the morning. A bad time to have insomnia. Maybe it was the heat. Her clothes were sticking to her, and the garage stank of sweat. 

Or maybe it was the memories of the evening.

The other GGs had trailed back in at about 10 o'clock, flushed, grinning, and high-fiving. And for the next hour or so, they'd sat around exchanging skate park stories, and making skate park jokes, and thinking up skate park plans.

Garam had become very busy playing pinball. And Gum had sat there, sourness growing under her ribs, wanting to scream, to smash, to cry. 

In the end she'd yelled, "Shut up about the bloody skate park!" and Cube had snapped, "Look, just quit being such a party pooper, okay? What is wrong with you?"

She'd wanted to scream back, but they'd all been staring at her, and the same question had been in their eyes.

_What is wrong with you?_

"I'm a freak," Gum muttered.

But she _wasn't _going to that park. She couldn't. Even if she changed her mind about it being a cop-out, she wouldn't go. They'd all snigger behind her back. _She admitted it at last. We were right and she was wrong. As usual._

A few feet away from her, Beat snored, rolled over, and muttered something. Something that sounded a lot like 'skate park.'

"Right, that's it." Gum leapt to her feet and started to change back into her day clothes. "I have had it with you guys."

Her skin was hot and sticky. Maybe it would be cooler outside.

When she was dressed, she skated to the door, wrenched it open, and managed to talk herself out of slamming it. Outside the streets were dark, and there was nobody about. They looked like they hadn't been built for people at all, but as monuments for something, or film sets no one had used.

This isn't a time for humans, Gum thought. 

A slight breeze flicked round her neck, cooling her skin. But the rage pulsed around her forehead still.

The corners of the world were filled with shadow. Sometimes she thought she saw things lurking there, but stopping to look made them vanish. A car rushed past her, the darkness reflected in the windscreen making it look empty. Then the streetlamp rushed over it, and she saw an empty-eyed commuter, driving for his life. 

She moved on, through the bus terminal. It was completely silent here. The buses surrounded her, waiting, empty, and the air lay over her like a rug, heavy and hot. She yawned, and the tags here blurred, and she couldn't comprehend them for a moment.

She glanced up at the sky as she left the terminal and walked past the empty square. Clouds covered it like sand, and the moon stared down at her, a blind eye in a swirling, melting face.

She hadn't planned to go to Center Point. But somehow her feet took her there through the silent town, until she realised she was standing on a bridge overlooking the park, filled with thick black shadows. It was practically empty now – once or twice she thought she saw a flicker of movement, but it could have just been litter blowing along the ground.

She leant against the wall, closed her eyes, rested her face against the warm stone. Her eyelids felt heavier. The stone seemed to soften, let her sink into it. 

A nip of air on her face shook her back to wakefulness eventually. A line of spikes on the house opposite became birds, and cawed off into the darkness.

And the skate park still lurked in front of her, like a bruise on her consciousness.

They'd laughed without her. Abandoned her. 

"I hate you," she hissed at it. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."

She was tired, she knew that. And the night felt like it had got inside her skull.

But that still didn't explain the wave of hatred that broke over her, leaving her gasping, the wave spilling from the skate park, the wave that hissed, _I hate you too…_

And before she could think she found herself running, running back down the street, which wavered and shook in front of her eyes. She kept misjudging steps, slipping and stumbling, skates catching on the pavement and almost knocking her down.

And she must have stumbled back into the garage. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the area of floor where she normally slept, trembling so badly she couldn't stop. 

And time passed and sooner or later pale light started to filter in through the window, and the other GGs started to wake up.

"You coming to the skate park?" Beat called over to Mew, across Gum's head.

Gum sat bolt upright. "Don't!"

They both gazed at her, looking puzzled.

"It's – it's – there's something weird about it," she said. 

"Oh, yeah, right, Gum," Mew said. "Look, can't you just agree to disagree on this one?"

"But there is – last night I went out there and it – it told me it hated me…or something…"

"Ever heard of dreaming?" Mew said, and walked away.

"I wasn't!"

"Sure you weren't."

I wasn't, Gum began to say…then stopped. 

Was I?

She remembered lying against the wall, eyes shut. Yes. She must have dozed off there. Right?

Right.

And she'd dreamt that – that feeling. The skate park was just a place she hated, that's all, it wasn't evil or possessed or demonic. The hatred had been a dream.

Maybe it was her seeing things. Maybe she was going crazy.

Anyway, time to forget all this. She had to find something to do today, or go crazy for real.


	3. Nudie pictures galore!

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A/N by Tei/Disk: Couple things I'd like to address while I'm here. The prefixes of "Chi" on the mini-sections of the skate park are all wordplay on the Japanese word "Chibi," which means something like small or runt in English. And Lotus, I'm not sure about a JSRF port to the GC, but I REALLY hope there is one so I don't have to rent an X-Box...

I would also like to point out that this chapter is relatively light-hearted in nature, but don't let that fool you. Things will get serious...eventually. :)

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Chapter 3

"DJ K! DJ K! DJ K! Jet Set Radioooo..."

Tab stood on top of a large telephone pole, his hand over his eyes to shade them from the glaring, early morning sunlight. He grinned like an idiot, because from his vantage point, he could see all six sections of the Skate park and the full-pipe.

"I hereby declare," he shouted, raising his arms upward dramatically, "that I am the king of all that I see!"

Below, Yo-Yo skated past, taunting Thrash as he went. He whirled around the telephone pole, and Thrash just ignored that and went straight into it, sending large shockwaves upward and knocking Tab's skates out from under him. He paused and sweatdropped before plummeting.

"Now that makes you the king of dirt, I guess," Beat said, whistling.

"Shut up," Tab muttered. "I happen to _like_ this dirt. It's very regal. It even _tastes_ like royalty!"

Scorn, a renegade Rudie, was perched on a nearby rail and wore a smirk. "Watching you two is like watching Larry and Curly go at it without Moe around to stop them."

Beat growled and threw a brick in Scorn's direction, but the renegade dropped down from the rail and dashed away, sticking his tongue out at them.

"Just who does that twerp think he is??" Beat shouted.

"A renegade Rudie with an attitude problem?" Tab suggested, holding up a finger. Beat sweatropped, and skated away.

****

Garage

"You know," Garam grumbled into the pillow over his head, "I think I've got an idea."

"Shoot," Gum said. She was lying back on the couch with her eyes closed and her hands behind her head.

"Let's have sex."

"Let's not."

"Just a joke!!"

"Then what's your _real_ idea, or do I need to bring out my castration scissors?"

"I was thinking that maybe we could get a job," Garam said. "I mean, you could be a waitress at Bucky's on Center Street. I could probably worm my way in as manager in a couple weeks."

"You're just saying that because the waitresses there wear those super vomit-enducingly cute, high-skirted, low-necked uniforms. Plus, I'd have to take my helmet off--something you don't want to see."

"Eeek, good point."

"Besides, jobs mean work. Work sucks."

"Well, if you look at it," Garam said, sounding as matter-of-factly as one can whilst his head is covered by a sleeping implement, "being a Rudie is work because we have to get up, go out, and actually _do_ something."

"That's different. That's fun."

Garam heaved an aggravated sigh, tossed the pillow away, and climbed up to his skates. "Alright, look. I'm trying to help us find something to do. It's boring as hell, I won't deny it, with all our friends, rivals and enemies hanging at the skate park, but maybe, just _maybe_ you're being too cutting about that place. I mean, what else is there for us to do?"

"I. Re. Fuse." Gum put in firmly, stomping her heel on the arm of the couch with each syllable. She likewise climbed up to her skates, and whipped out a can of spray paint. "Being a Rudie isn't just about going out and having fun! We've got responsibilities, like--like--protecting our turf, and stealing the others' whenever we can! Looking out for each other!"

"We're not doing a very good job of either," Garam mumbled softly.

"What ever happened to expressing ourselves to the world and all that?"

"Times change," he shrugged uneasily. "I mean, I see where you're coming from, I just don't think we're being fair. We should at least tip our front wheels inside that gate before we pass judgment."

"But--that thing said it _hated_ me!"

Gum stopped, realizing what she was saying. She sighed. "Okay. Okay. I'll admit it--I _am_ being cutting. That doesn't mean I hate the place any less, mind you."

"Good, that's progress, at least." Garam smiled. "Now, let's say we so out on the town, huh? I'll bet we could Jet Crush all around Tokyo!"

The idea itself wasn't appealing to her; she'd done plenty of Jet Crushes before. She even beat Cube's Challenge Crush through the backstreets of Shibuya, something that had yet to be accomplished by any _other_ Rudie at all. But what the hell, _anything_ beat sitting around and growing heated like this.

So she returned Garam's grin and said in a challenging voice, "Sure. You choose the path."

Potts, staying as neutral as always, eyed both Rudies before lying his head down onto his paws and going to sleep again, as he had been before Gum and Garam started arguing.

****

Skate Park

"I challenge you to a Jet Crush!" Beat pointed a finger dramatically in the direction of a group of Noise Tanks, who were huddling around together near the southern mouth of the full-pipe. Tab and Cube were standing behind him, Cube with her arms crossed, and Tab with one hand rubbing his chin whilst he grinned.

The Noise Tanks looked up from the quiet conversation of beeps and clicks they'd been having, and turned to face the GGs. There were five of them; not nearly their entire gang, but enough to act as witnesses. A Poison Jammer was lurking on the other side of the pipe wearing a scowl.

"What the hell do you think you're up to?" one of the Noise Tanks asked in a mechanical voice. 

"Where's your leader?" Beat demanded, wearing a challenging grin. "I want to race him."

One of the Noise Tanks stepped forward from the five, and took off the mask he wore--only to reveal that he was actually a she. In return, Beat took off his goggles, and the two stared at each other with an electric spark running between them.

"Beat, why the challenge?" The Noise Tank girl asked.

  
"Because, Matrix, I feel like stretching my legs a bit and proving GG superiority." Beat put his glasses back on and began to dance in place. "Besides, I wouldn't want you growing chubby with all the standing and talking you do: your boyfriend wouldn't be happy."

"Shut up, leave Disk out of this," Matrix growled. "I accept your challenge. What're we doing?"

"We're going to race through the full pipe," Beat announced loudly but simply. "Whoever comes out first wins."

"The prize?"

"Hmm...the loser has to take nudie pictures of themselves and glue it up on the half-pipe's wall. We could start a wall of shame that way!"

Matrix snorted. "Allright. I'll kick your ass, and then everyone can see how small your dick is."

Beat blushed, but grinned. "You would know _all_ about tha-aat..." he murmured.

"OUCH!" Cube cried, bursting out with raucous laughing.

  
"Please, Cube, he's probably screwed _you_ more," Slash spoke up.

An unsettling pause settled itself over the lot of them, and Slash very suddenly felt stifled. His brain was telling his legs to pump and get as far away from Cube as they could, but his knees were currently made of jelly.

Cube lunged, tackling Slash into a skaters bowl, and the rest of the Rudies shrugged and turned towards the pipe. They called the Poison Jammer--Slice--out, and had him do the countdown.

The problem was that he didn't know how to count past two, so they just let him count however he wanted and shot off on the fourth number, which acted as their "GO!" signal.

"One...two...uh...sixty-nine......."

"Don't you know any _other_ numbers?" Tab cried, about ready to pull out his hair, since Slice had been standing there reciting the same three numbers for about five minutes.

Slice scowled. "I do so! After sixty-nine comes...comes..."

"Yessss...?"

"Sixty-ten!"

The Noise Tanks and GG's face-planted on the concrete. In the end, it was decided that the "uh" would count as the three, and the "sixty-nine" would be the "GO!" Slice, now more confident of his counting abilities, proudly recited the same phrase, and Beat and Matrix were off, dashing into the mouth of the full-pipe and crouching as the slope carried them below ground level.

"Let's go around the other side and see who comes up first!" Hexadecimal declared.

"Shouldn't we see if yer buddy Slash is still alive?" Tab asked, but the Noise Tanks shook their heads and the lot of them moved on.

"I'm sure the rest of the park will enjoy seeing you posted on the side of the pipe," Beat said, his skate splashing through a puddle and soaking the bottom of his jeans.

"They won't ever get the chance," Matrix replied, grinning.

****

Benten

Gum let her momentum carry her up the arm of the crane. Far below, she could see cars running past, nothing but blurs of light zipping along like flies. She wanted to avoid being hit by those cars, so she had to time her jump into the business center section of town just right. the crane began it's long arc to the left again, and almost loosened her balance. She grit her teeth, watching the end of the arm come closer...closer...the arc drew to an end, and a solid awning was below her. She pushed away, angling herself so that she would land on it.

She did, crouching to absorb the impact, and angled her skates to the right. She rolled onto the walkway below, and dashed, grinding on a safety railing as she went.

She didn't know how close Garam was. She didn't even know if she was ahead, but she had to admit that she had been wrong. This was LOADS of fun! The wind whipped at her hair, getting it caught uncomfortably between her ear and her helmet, but she didn't care. This was just too exhilarating! If only Beat could have been here to see it--

She frowned. remembering that Beat had abandoned her. Well, throw _that_ good mood out the window. Very suddenly, Gum didn't feel like racing anymore as a cold, murderous feeling of jealousy rose up her throat.

"Calm, calm," she murmured to herself, jumping over a car as it passed by under her, the driver honking the horn angrily. Gum flipped the bird at him, carrying much more slowly.

Feeling bitter inside, Gum turned off the path she was planning to take and slunk down into the subway tracks. She didn't care if Garam won anymore; it just _wasn't_ the same without Beat, without the Noise Tanks and the Keisatsu to get in the way. It was infuriatingly dull.

It didn't matter where her skates took her. She just _went_, for the second time in twenty-four hours, following the phantom voice that was calling out to her in her mind.

****

Skate Park

Fifteen minutes after the race began, Beat emerged from the opposite mouth of the full pipe, raising his arms in victory once he realized Matrix wasn't around. Tab and Cube (the latter had decided to let Slash live _without_ castration, and left him as a finely-meshed pulp in the skate bowl) congratulated their leader, and most of the Noise Tanks hung back in shame.

One wasn't so proud, though, and stepped forward to speak to Beat.

"Hey, man," the Noise Tank, a guy named Megabyte, asked. "Where's our leader? She shouldn't be _that_ far behind."

Beat shrugged uneasily. "I don't really know. We were about halfway through, in that narrow part where only one person can fit through at a time, and she was ahead of me. I broke out then, pressing the speed, and she wasn't there anymore. I thought I'd taken the lead, and just kept going."

"If she's gotten hurt," Tab said, pondering aloud, "does she still have to pose?"

Someone threw a brick, clocking Beat on the head. Scorn's vengeful chortle could be heard from somewhere hidden in the park, and thus Tab and Cube turned their attention from the Tanks to the rest of the park.

Megabyte turned to his remaining teammates, Hack and Tracer, and pointed at the full pipe. One of us ought to go down there and try to find her. If she's been seriously hurt..."

"I'll go," Tracer said, his buff Australian accent shining through so brightly that Megabyte had to resist the urge to cover his eyes. The former turned to the pipe and disappeared into its gaping maw.

"Urrrghhh..." Beat groaned miserably.


	4. Where's a brick when you need one?

Chapter 4 – by Tallulah

It was midday. Beat grinned as he finished his tag. Life was good. The sun was shining, he'd beaten the Noise Tanks, and when Matrix turned up she'd be forced to get busy with a camera…

Yup, life was good. Life was – 

__

"Where is she?"

Beat jumped as Kell stormed towards him. Her eyes were red-rimmed, she was gasping for breath, and she looked worryingly homicidal.

"You tell me where she is or I – I –"

"What the hell are you talking about, Love Shocker?" Beat said. "Lost your teddy?"

Kell gripped him by the shirt, slamming him back against the wall. "Another of my gang members has disappeared."

"And I have something to do with this because…?"

"One of _your _lot was hanging around the half-pipe last night, and that's the last place Akina was seen. Now I bet you think this is funny, but I don't, so just quit goofing around and tell me where she is!"

"Maybe she just got sick of her paranoid leader and decided to quit. That occurred to you?"

Kell slammed her hand into his stomach.

Beat saw the sun-baked ground rising up to slap his face, and groaned. 

"Listen." Kell snapped out the words. "She wouldn't quit. She wouldn't. If you won't give me answers, I'm going round the entire park until I find someone who will."

"That's…that's nice for you…" Beat muttered.

"Hey, Kell – he told you anything?"

Beat saw another pair of Love Shocker skates screech to a halt in front of his nose, and someone laughed. "You didn't have to kill him."

"Look, Dash, I'm in the mood for killing at the moment. First Shar, now Akina…damn GGs think they're it…"

Beat struggled to sit up before she decided to break his nose with her skate.

"Look," he said. "We haven't done anything to your pals. If we wanted you guys out of the way, we'd ten-tag you like normal rudies, not…I don't know, whatever you think we've done. So could you please stop hitting me?"

He looked up at Kell, who glowered, and said, "I don't believe a word you're saying, but I don't have time to pummel you into the dirt. I've got to find her. Come on, Dash."

As the Love Shockers skated away, there was a snort of laughter. Beat turned to see Scorn perched on top of the wall, looking down at him.

"Wow…the GG leader gets ground to a pulp by a couple of girls. And you guys are supposed to be tough?"

"Oh, shut up!" Beat glanced around for a brick, couldn't see one, and before he could think of some other way to retaliate, Scorn had gone.

Gum stood on the bridge, squinting down at the skate park. The sun was hot on the back of her neck, and seeing the other rudies lurking down in that stupid place wasn't exactly improving her temper, but she wasn't going to go away.

You're not going to beat me, she thought at the park. You are so not.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to pick out people she knew. She could see some Noise Tanks clustered around the left of the entrance to the park, round the full-pipe. Love Shockers, two of them, skating fiercely along near the top-right corner. Beat was lounging around a little way along from them…she felt her hands curl into fists. 

He was supposed to be leader of her gang and he didn't even know she was there.

No. She had to stop this or she'd go mad. 

Maybe she had already. In the burning sunlight there sure wasn't any trace of that weird hatred she'd felt last night. In a way she wished there was. Then she'd have a real reason for loathing this place. 

But Garam was right. She was being too cutting. Way too cutting. If all the others were doing it, it couldn't be so bad…

Sheep, her mind taunted her. Sheep sheep sheep. That's the kind of stupid crappy thinking that – that bimbos do. 

But she hadn't even _been_ in the stupid park, not even once.

If only they hadn't built it…given a ton of dynamite, she would have happily blasted it to kingdom come. Then she'd be with the rest of her gang, being a rudie, and everything would be normal.

Pissing off the other gangs…dodging the Keisatsu…putting their tags on the highest places…

To her horror, she felt her eyes sting, and a tear oozed out of one of them, and ran down her face.

Oh, god, no! Now it was making her cry!

Angrily she scrubbed the tear off her cheek, but another one replaced it, and another.

"Gum, where the hell did you go?" 

Garam. Gum silently cursed, and stared up into the sharp blue sky. Don't look, don't look, don't look…

"Gum?"

Gum swallowed, and said, trying to keep her voice steady, "I…got tired of it. That's all."

"Oh, for god's sake!" Garam's shadow fell over her back. "Look, I have had it with you! You moan there's nothing to do and then when we try and do something you just don't do that either, can't you quit being such a brat?"

"I am not a brat!" Gum yelled. "I just –"

Her voice shattered into sobs.

"Gum? Oh, lord, don't cry, I can't handle that…"

Gum snorted through her tears. "Wimp."

Garam crept closer to her. "Um – do you want me to hug you?"

"Bite me," Gum sobbed.

"You're like a cactus, did you know that?"

Gum rubbed the tears off her face. "Thank you. That's the most beautiful thing anyone's ever said to me."

"You're welcome. I can say more stuff like that if you want."

"No. Don't push it." She found herself grinning. 

"We could…I dunno, talk to them." Garam indicated the GGs below them. "Ask 'em if they'd mind hanging with us for once."

"They won't come. They'll say why don't _we _come _there. _I've been watching them. They're having the time of their lives. Beat and Tab are acting like prats, Mew's getting a tan, Cube's putting the fear of God into every male who crosses her path…they're _happy _down there. Why should we make them come out and face the real world?"

"Things can't go on like this forever," Garam said. 

"Oh, yeah? Why not?"

"Either they'll get bored, or you'll go homicidally insane and force them to come out at gunpoint."

"Now there's an idea." Gum sighed, and stared down at the park again. 

"Look, doesn't it bug you?" she said at last.

"Sure it bugs me. But we gotta try and keep positive, or we'll be letting it win. Or whatever."

"I guess so."

"I know so. Come on, cactus. Are you bored enough to have sex with me yet?"

"Garam, you haven't had a cactus slammed into your balls with the force of a freight train, have you?"

"That was a hint, wasn't it?"

"You're smart for a gangless rudie."

"Come on. Let's go find some lunch."

"Why were the Love Shockers mashing you into the ground?" Cube asked Beat.

"They were _not _mashing me."

"Oh, yeah? What were they doing? Making you beg?"

"Look, their stupid leader was pissed cos she'd lost two of her stupid gang members and she thought I had something to do with it."

"Lost them?"

"They've disappeared. If you ask me, they've quit the gang to get away from their insane leader. Anyway, it's not my problem."

Cube shrugged, and leapt up onto the wall. Grinding along a few feet, she jumped off again, and said, "What're the Noise Tanks doing over there?"

Beat looked over to where she was pointing. One of the Noise Tanks stood on top of the telephone pole as Tab had that morning, surveying the park. The rest of them clustered at the bottom, shading their eyes as they stared up at him.

"See anything?" Beat heard one of them yell.

"Nope. No sign of her…"

Beat recognised the voice as Slash's. He glanced over at Cube, and gulped at the evil grin that was spreading across her face.

"Be right back," she murmured, and took off towards the pole.

Beat winced as she tore through the Noise Tanks, leapt, and kicked off from the pole. And just like Tab, Slash fell.

"You're evil," Beat commented as Cube skated back to him.

"I know."

"Look, just leave us alone!" yelled one of the Noise Tanks. "We got some serious shit to deal with!"

"Oh, yeah, what?" Cube called. "Power cut to the brain?"

"Real funny," the Noise Tank replied. "Look, go play with the Poison Jammers or something. We're busy."

"What the hell is wrong?" Beat said. "This place is supposed to be fun, remember? You lost something?"

"No, someone," Tracer said. "You guys seen Matrix?"

"She's still not turned up?"

"Nope. So we'd appreciate less dumb shit from you GGs till we find her. Come on, Slash, get back up there."

"Do I have to?"

"Move it!"

Beat glanced at Cube. "Matrix is gone too? Is it just me, or is something weird going on?"

"Could be. Or it could be Matrix is off taking her nudie pics, and doesn't want to face us."

"But where are those two missing Love Shockers?"

"Maybe they had a row with Kell or something. No one's searched outside the park, have they?" Cube sped up and jumped onto a wall again. "Lighten up, Beat. This isn't the X-Files."

"No, I guess not. But –"

"Beat! What part of 'lighten up' do you not understand? Chill, okay? Nothing weird's going on. The only weird thing I can think of is Gum and Garam are still doing their stupid protest."

"If they don't want to come here, that's their loss."

"Do you think they're gonna stick to that?"

"I don't know." Beat sighed, remembering how miserable Gum was looking lately. "It'd be cool if they came. And they'd like it, you know they would, they just…"

"They're just morons?" Cube said, grinning. "Well, Gum may be. Garam's just staying with her cos he likes her."

"You think?"

"I know." Cube jumped down to land in front of him, raising dust around her. "Anyway, if they don't…join in or something soon, they're gonna end up quitting the gang."

"What, actually leave? For good?"

"Well, it's not like we hang with them any more," Cube said. "I'd be sorry to see 'em go, but to tell the truth, this 'I'm too tough and cool for the skate park' act is starting to piss me off."

"Maybe we should…I don't know, go out on the streets with them a bit more."

"We both know that'd be totally boring. All the gangs are here, and all the rivalries and turf wars. And we've got way more to skate on, walls and pipes and stuff. There's no point in going out on the streets. If they want to ignore us, let them. They want to start acting like part of the GGs, they can come down here."

Beat sighed. What had Gum called them yesterday? Kept rudies? 

But this place was _so cool…_

"Maybe too cool," he said out loud.

"Beat, if you don't stop saying dark things in that significant tone of voice, and looking around like you expect the creepy music to start, I am going to give you a punch in the eye. Now let's go tread on someone's toes."

Beat sighed, and followed her away from the Noise Tanks. She was right. Of course there was nothing wrong. This place was like paradise for rudies.

_But in the movies, the people always move into the old house and say how great it is, and then the ghost comes out of the walls and brutally slaughters them all._

Beat considered this a moment, and then decided that Cube was right. He needed to lighten up. He shivered. The sun had gone in, and the shadows cutting over the park faded. 

Then it rose out again, and he headed after Cube.


	5. Who stole the Combo from the Combo jar?

****

Chapter 5 – by Tei/Disk

"Aaaa-kiii-naaa!!"

"Matrix! Yo, Matrix!"

Scorn sat crouched on one of the rails in Little Grind City, watching the Love Shockers and Noise Tanks scurry back and forth, looking madly for their lost members. He snickered; they'd never find the lot of them the way they were carrying on like that.

"Somethin' funny, renegade?" spoke Combo's deep voice from an unnerving proximity. Scorn started, then looked over his shoulder to see the large black man wearing a slight frown, his white eyes piercing the darkness from under his bucket hat.

"Just watching those idiots go at it," Scorn snorted. "I mean...they haven't got the brains to realize that all three girls disappeared in the full-pipe."

"You're sayin' there's a connection there?"

"Hmm...possibly," Scorn nodded. "I can't be sure. And it's not like I'm gonna go over to them and say it; I don't look like the Pink no Shijin, do I?"

"No, but you _do_ look like you're on my turf; get off now, unless you want to have your back decorated with my symbols. You're starting to grate my nerves."

Scorn shrugged and jumped off the rail. "Fine, see you whenever," he said, waving over a shoulder as he skated away.

Combo narrowed his eyes at the renegade's back as the shadows began to roll across the ground, clouds blocking out the sun's rays. It'd been doing this all day, and the air smelled of oncoming rain. Beat would be relieved; he'd been a bit reserved lately, dealing with the fact that neither Gum nor Garam were interested in hanging out in this place. The rain would be a good excuse for the gang to stay home and do something together, _if_ it came.

Combo looked into the distant horizon, and saw a minuscule patch of green swirled inconspicuously with the blue, and a slight frown came onto his face. Yes, that was his sign, the way he could _always_ tell if it was gonna rain. But, the rain was a whole tomorrow away, and Combo didn't feel like standing around and moping, and decided that if Scorn wouldn't let him in on what he'd figured out, then he'd go check things out for himself. He made sure his grip on the ghetto blaster was tight before he headed in the direction of the full-pipe.

Gum and Garam were back in Shibuya already, talking with each other. Garam laughed loudly at something Gum said, and Gum gave a smile. Neither were paying attention to the white-clad figure that was lurking against one of the buses, making a strange tag on its' side.

That is, until they walked full into each other.

Garam stumbled, and Gum fell backwards, landing on her rear. The Noise Tank they crashed into also fell backwards, but managed to catch the bus with his robotic arm and haul himself back to his treds.

"Hey, what are _you_ doing here, huh?" Garam demanded, wearing something that was a mix of a scowl and a curious frown.

The Noise Tank glanced nervously at both of them, and said something in Tankspeak--the series of clicks and beeps and whirs that filter what they're actually saying--before stopping and switching off the filter and starting again.

"I'm here trying to _do_ something," the Noise Tank said, shrugging. "My gang and my girlfriend have all gone off to that damn skate park; I thought you GGs went there, too."

Gum snarled. "Right bloody likely! The rest of our gang has, but being a Rudie _means_ something to the two of us."

The Noise Tank gave a small, victorious cry. "Finally, I thought I was the only decent-minded Rudie left in the city! My name's Disk, by the way. I know the two of you: Gum and Garam."

"How would you know about that?"

"Are you kidding? After you guys saved Tokyo from Goji, _everyone_ knows who you are," Disk explained. "Thank Professor K for that. Not everyone idolizes you, though."

"Do you?"

"Well...to be honest, no. I have a _lot_ of respect for you, though. Even more for you two."

"So, our little gang's up to three now, then," Garam said, placing a fist on his hip and pointing to Disk. "That means we won't be as bored, I hope." He added, wearing a playful smirk to Gum. Gum sneered, and kicked Garam's legs out from under him, before climbing up to her own.

"Okay, enough with the innuendos," Gum begged, sounding frustrated. 

Garam laughed again, ignoring the pains in his butt. "Okay, I got it! Now that we've sort of found each other, what do you propose we do?"

Disk ran a finger along the chin of his mask, and made a thoughtful sound. "Hmmm....I think I'm getting an idea...yes! Come on, let's head for Kogane and mess things up a little bit, huh?"

The day wore on, and eventually, most of the Noise Tanks and Love Shockers grumpily settled upon their missing members had gone home. Kell refused to be swayed, and kept up her mad, near-homocidal search for Akina and Shar, but nobody else persued.

Combo had been watching the full pipe most of the time. There wasn't a whole lot to stop him from going in, aside from that creeping sensation of apprehension that rose up inside him, that one that he hated and refused to admit existed. But, he wanted to make observations, like they taught in high school...yeah, as if he paid attention to that! But standing around wasn't gettin' much done, so with a mighty shrug, Combo surged down into the full-pipe.

Around the corner and hidden from view, Scorn watched with a derisive sneer. "Idiot." He pulled around and headed down after the largest GG.

Thunder rumbled off in the distance as day began to melt away into night. Gum shivered as paint worked a teardrop trail down her arm, wearing a triumphant grin. On either side of her, Garam and that Noise Tank, Disk, stood tall with an aura of unsurpassed victory floating thickly through the air like a soup.

"Yes," Garam said, slapping Disk on the shoulder triumphantly. "We did it. We had fun--we managed to prove that we _don't_ need that damn skate park!"

Disk flashed a V for Victory sign, and Gum swore he was grinning under the mask. Below them, Kogane was splattered with greens, blues and grays, swirling and swallowing Kiboagoka up. The three Rudies were likewise covered in green, blue and gray, but felt indifference towards the cold, crawling tendrils snaking down their bodies, since they'd been born out of fun and insane romping.

Gum felt like shouting at the moment; so she did. Throwing her paint-stained gloves up to the sky, Gum cried to the winds, "WHO NEEDS SOME GOD-DAMNED SKATE PARK ANYWAY?" The air was alive with electricity, and Gum could feel it living and crawling across her skin. Garam and Disk felt the same way, and it showed. Jet Set Radio was blasting some song with a sexy beat, and the trio began dancing to it just to release all the pent-up energy.

And then there was a gunshot, and Garam fell forewards suddenly. Gum and Disk cried out, but Garam was sitting up and bleeding from a small cut in his forehead. Another gunshot rang out through the air, and a familiar shout echoed.

"Aha! Gotcha!"

Gum never felt more grateful of Onishima's presence. Garam got up to his skates--he felt sorta dizzy, but he was otherwise fine. 'Nishima's shot had missed him by feet.

Below them, with his hands on his hips, stood Shorty himself, wearing a smug grin. "Well well well, looks like I got me some Rudies!"

Gum sportingly flipped him the bird. "Well, it's about damn _time_ you showed up, Pug-face!"

Cockily, Onishima whirled his six-shooter around on one finger by the safety. "It _is_ my job to chase after your lot and slam you all in Sing-Sing, after all."

Gum sat cross-legged on the roof, resting her chin in her hand. She stared down at Onishima with a thoughtful glance. "Hey, I get it--you're in the same boat we're in. Thanks to the skate park, nobody's around."

"Except us," Disk pointed out.

"That doesn't mean I'm gonna get all buddy-buddy with you," Onishima growled, grabbing the six-shooter from it's spin and pointing it up at the bunch of them. "So, if you want to make my day _interesting_, get up and start running."

Gum snickered. She grabbed up an empty can of spray paint, tossed it up a couple times, then pitched it, clocking Onishima on the noggin. He stumbled backwards, and there was a loud _BANG_ sound; when he regained his senses, the trio were gone, leaving behind a trail of sparkles in their wake.

"DAMN!"

It was night in Central Point by the time Scorn emerged from the other mouth of the full-pipe. He stared around in bewilderment, as if he were looking for something; then Beat approached him from the side, looking somewhat furious. He grabbed the renegade by the collar, startling him out of his reverie.

"Where's Combo?" Beat rumbled. Thunder shook the sky, as if God himself was backing the GG leader's rage. "Don't bullshit me. I saw him go in, and I saw you follow."

Scorn put on a smug grin. "Maybe he got lost? That GG's _not_ the brainy type."

Beat growled. "I told you, 'don't bullshit me.'"

Still grinning, Scorn shook his head. "If you want to be humorless, so be it: I don't know. It was dark down there. I could hardly see where I was going."

Beat shook the renegade mightily, then lashed out and slapped him in the cheek. Scorn's grin fell away into a frown as a welt grew on his cheek. He pushed Beat's hands away, and turned on a dime. Looking over his shoulder, Scorn spoke in a strange, cold voice.

"Listen, GG. I never liked your kind much. I'll be honest and admit that. I hate gangs because it involves too much reliance on someone else who can and will let you down. _But_, I ain't got a reason to go around kidnapping Rudies. You don't know it, but already one renegade has gone missing, on top of the two Love Shockers and the Noise Tank. The reason being because _nobody_ keeps track of the renegades. We fly solo for a reason. Why would I kidnap a renegade if my main beef is with gangs?"

He was met with a snarl. Beat came slowly at Scorn, but Scorn waved him off with a hand.

"Don't. Beating me up won't solve anything. The Love Shocker wailing on _you_ didn't bring _her_ members back."

"Slate saw you talking with him earlier," Beat hissed. "I don't know what you guys were talking about, but if Combo found something out about you, then it only makes sense that he'd disappear just after you go in with him."

Scorn froze. He _had_ told Combo about the full-pipe and how it connected to all of the disappearances...shit, shit, shit! Okay, keep your calm...as long as Beat doesn't find out, then he can't accuse anything without sounding rediculous--

"I heard him," spoke Tracer's buff Australian voice from nearby. Beat and Scorn turned to see him backed by a few Noise Tanks and Love Shockers, but the numbers were pretty thin. "I heard him talking to the big guy earlier; he said that the disappearances were all connected to the full-pipe. He didn't have plans on telling anyone, either."

Lightening struck. Beat turned to face Scorn, but the renegade was long gone.

From the shadows of the mouth of the full-pipe, Kell watched with narrowed eyes. Nobody noticed her.


	6. Thunder, lightning, rain, oh my

Chapter Six – by Tallulah

Cube shivered as the GGs dashed through the streets. It was starting to rain, and icy drops were speckling her skin. Above them the sky swirled, lashing itself like boiling water. 

"Cube…" Beat gasped. "We'll find him, okay? Don't worry…"

"I'm not worrying," Cube snapped, her lips trembling, with cold, with misery, she didn't know. "I'm not damn worrying!"

She skated faster, her legs began to ache, but she ignored the tiredness in them and pushed herself on, away from the GGs, away from the skate park, away from the rainy life.

Finally she got to the garage. She wrenched at the door handle with damp, frozen fingers, ignoring the others as she dashed inside. 

"Cube?"

It was Gum who'd called. Cube stared at her. The girl was sprawled across the sofa, her face flushed, a grin dancing across it. 

"Cube, what is it?" Garam asked. He looked like he'd just finished laughing. The concerned face he was wearing at the moment looked like it had been put on too hastily.

Cube swallowed. "Combo. He's gone."

"No way," Gum said.

"Don't fuck around saying dumb shit!" Cube screamed, feeling her eyes burn with tears. "He's gone, okay?"

"Cube, we're gonna find him." Slate had reached the garage, his hair drooping with rain. 

"Oh, yeah? The Love Shockers can't find their friends. The Noise Tanks can't find their friends. Why should we be different?"

"Because we're the GGs," Yo-Yo said. "We're da man. Men. We can –"

_"Shut up!" _Cube screamed, fury sticking in her throat. "Just shut up!"

She turned and ran into the other room, slamming the door shut so hard it rattled. Then she stood there, gasping for breath, trying not to think, trying not to panic, wishing she could just sleep and when she woke up it would all be different.

But she couldn't sleep, she knew that. She couldn't even calm down, she couldn't stop pacing, and she was clutching herself like she was freezing. 

A handful of rain was flung against the window, and Cube scurried over to it and pressed her face against the cold glass. Shibuya-cho was damp and blurry, the streetlamps glinting on the puddles and overflowing gutters.

Combo was out there somewhere. He had to be. Had to be. He'd just gone off, to follow a hunch, buy some paint, get his skates fixed, _something. _

Shibuya-cho blurred even more. She blinked so fiercely her eyelids hurt.

And the view dissolved into Bantam Street…the sun searing across her features, the graffiti-covered trains clattering past, and pieces of vinyl record crunching under her knees.

__

Cube, what you looking at?

He's out there. I know he is.

But where? We been looking everywhere. He wouldn't have just run out on us.

Of course he wouldn't. The scorn had stung her mouth. _He's been kidnapped. By those freaky suit guys. But I'm gonna find him. He's out there, somewhere, and he's okay._

She'd swallowed.

__

Right?

Combo hadn't answered, and she'd hated him for that.

She blinked, and Shibuya-cho returned, wet, the splashing faint through the window. Thunder.

He's okay, her mind argued. He's out there, somewhere, and he's not dead, not dead, not like Coin, this is nothing like Coin, Goji's dead, I saw him fall, and Combo's just lost and he's safe.

And then the rest of her brain didn't answer.

The GGs were sitting in a damp, gloomy circle.

"It could be he just found something," Piranha said. "And he's gone to investigate it."

Another flash of lightning outside, then thunder.

"It's kind of a coincidence if he has," Garam said. "No offence, but if like four people have vanished into that full-pipe already, and he goes there and then he disappears…well, what else could have happened?"

"But why? What's so freaky about the full-pipe?" Mew asked.

Beat shrugged. "That renegade knows. I'm positive he's got something to do with it."

"How could he have…clubbed Combo over the head or whatever he's done?" Slate said. "He's not tall enough, and he sure ain't strong enough."

Beat scowled, and didn't answer. 

"Didn't he say something about a renegade vanishing, though?" Mew said, stretching out her legs. Her stockings clung to them, dripping water. "And how it was only gangs he hated?"

"Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?" Beat said. "He's not likely to confess it all."

There was another snap of thunder, and the lights flickered, then went out.

"Eep," Gum said. 

"A power cut," Tab muttered. "Perfect."

"Anyone got any candles?" Beat said.

"I think Cube might, actually." Garam got up, his silhouette almost invisible in the shadow, and walked towards the door. 

Which flew open.

Cube stood there, fists clenched, eyes damp.

"I'm going out," she said.

"Where?"

"The skate park."

"Cube, it's pissing down out there," Tab said.

Cube's chin jutted out as lightning flickered over it. "I'm going to find Combo. I'm not just going to sit around waiting for – for _something. _I'm going out there. Now."

Beat got up. "I'll come with you."

Cube shrugged. "Whatever."

"I don't know…" Garam said. "Look, it don't sound like the park's a very healthy place to be at the mo –"

"You _would _say that," Cube spat out. "Get over your stupid prejudice about this. I'm gonna find him."

She marched towards the door, threw it open. Beat followed her, and they dashed out into the storm.

It was not nice weather, Beat decided. Soon he was soaked, his clothes becoming heavy and hanging off his bones. Water seeped in through his skates and down the back of his neck and under his goggles. 

Cube must be suffering as much as he was, but she didn't seem to care. Her rigid black figure cut through the rain, her skates slashing into the puddles. Beat found it hard to keep up with her. 

Shibuya was completely black. The power cut must have gone through the whole city. Could it be Noise Tank-generated, Beat wondered. No…probably just the storm.

At last they got to Center Point. The skate park was completely empty, the ground covered with sheets of rippling water, the ramps and walls glistening.

"Right," Cube said. She looked like someone had attacked her with a hosepipe. "Let's move it. Into the full-pipe."

Beat swallowed. "Is that a good idea?"

Cube stared at him, rain running down her face. "Fine, leader man. Be a coward. I'm not."

She charged off into the darkness of the pipe.

Sighing, Beat hurried after her.

"Hang on…should have light in a mo…"

Gum listened as a match scraped.

"Yeah!" A flame popped into existence, shading Tab's face golden, and he lit the candle. "Who da man?"

"My line, Tabster," Yo-Yo's voice echoed from Gum's right. "Well, at least we can see now."

"Don't try looking at any girly mags," Piranha said. "You'll only set fire to 'em."

Yo-Yo snorted. "Give me a break, babe."

"Give _me _a break," Slate said. "Shouldn't we go after Beat and Cube?"

There was a silence, and another crash of thunder.

"What can we do?" Mew said. "If something…something's going to happen…"

"You saw Cube," Garam said. "She ain't gonna stop for nobody."

Gum sighed, and stared at the window, which was glowing in the dark room. It looked vile out there. The trees lashed and convulsed against the sky, and there was no light anywhere.

"I don't like this," Piranha said. "I don't like it one bit."

"None of us do," Slate said. "Don't worry. They'll be okay."

Piranha sniffed. "Combo wasn't."

"We don't know that. They might find him."

Piranha gave a little sob, and drew her knees up to her chest.

"Don't worry," Gum said. "They'll be okay. We gotta keep calm."

"I don't know…" Mew said. "I'm kind of scared too…I mean, what if it is Scorn or someone trying to hurt rudies? What if he comes after us now?"

The door rattled, and everyone jumped.

"It's only the wind," Yo-Yo said. "Right?"

Gum shivered. This was sort of freaky. And Beat and Cube and Combo weren't here, and she didn't know where they were…she wanted them to be all right. 

Of course they'd be all right.

_I hate you, too, _the park whispered.

Her stomach was cold.

"Come on, guys," she said. "Let's not get jumpy. Put on the radio –"

"Can't," Garam said. "No power."

"Great." Gum sighed. She wanted noise, and music, to block out that whisper in her mind. "We gonna have to have a sing-song or something?"

Piranha snorted damply through her tears. "Let's make a campfire, shall we?"

"Ah, come on," Tab said. "She's right, we gotta keep cheerful." He took a deep breath. "Sheeee's just nuts about gu-um…"

"No, please, for the love of God, not your singing!" Piranha begged.

"I am deeply, deeply hurt." Tab scowled. "Okay, let's hear you do better!"

"I don't need to." Piranha gave a small smile. "I don't need to prove my superiority by singing."

"Yeah, cos you know you ain't got a hope in hell of being better than me."

"Tab, a tone-deaf duck with a sore throat is better than you at singing."

"Ah, come on, give us a tune, Piranha," Yo-Yo said. "With the radio being out and all. Can you do a little dance as well? Maybe with your clothes off?"

Gum found herself grinning as Piranha smacked Yo-Yo upside the head. For once they weren't wittering on about something she hated. 

For once she was part of a gang again.

The only good thing about the full-pipe, Beat decided, was that it was dry. 

Everything else about it – the cold – the echoiness – the dark – sucked.

"Cube?" he called. "You still here?"

His voice called back to him, _here, here, here…_

She didn't answer. 

"Oh, nuts," Beat muttered. 

He walked on down the pipe, heart thudding against his ribs. It should be silent, but it wasn't. There was splashing, and the hiss of falling rain, and odd thuds and creaks, and the hiss of skates…

Beat froze, his heart now pounding so hard he couldn't move properly.

"Cube?" he called, his throat dry.

Silence, and the person stopped skating.

Oh, shit.

"Combo?"

Still silence.

Beat tried not to panic. It wasn't easy. Panic seemed good. Panic seemed sensible. He wanted to run out of the full-pipe like it was on fire. Unfortunately, his terrified mind had decided he should freeze and hope he could camouflage himself in the wall.

"Who is it?" a voice called.

A female voice. But not Cube.

"Who are you?" he answered.

Clack of skates, and the other rudie crept round the corner. Beat's eyes had become used to the darkness, and he made out spiky hair and a scowl. Kell.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

Kell shrugged. "Might ask you the same question."

"I'm looking for my friend. My friends." Where _was _Cube, anyway? "What about you? Still searching for your girls?"

Kell shrugged again. "I guess."

"You guess? Either you are or you aren't."

"Let's say I am, then."

"Let's say?" Beat's eyes narrowed. "You know, Love Shocker, thinking about it, I don't see why I should trust you any more than I trust Scorn."

Kell snorted. "That dweeb? Give me a break."

"Well, why should I trust you?"

"I don't care if you trust me, GG," Kell said. She sounded calmer, Beat thought. Much calmer than she'd been earlier. "I'm happy with myself."

"Really? Not tearing your hair out cos Akina's vanished?"

Kell's face didn't change. "I've got my own thoughts on that."

"Yeah. You had a bitch fight with Akina and decided to bump her off? Or she's being a decoy, hiding out at your HQ to put us off the scent?"

Kell rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. You are way too paranoid."

"Well, excuse me –"

"Beat!"

Cube's voice, coming from further along the pipe, urgent, terrified…Beat whipped round and started dashing down the tunnel. "Cube! Cube, where are you?"

No answer again. He ran, desperately, his damp feet squelching in his skates. The full-pipe was empty. Kell was left behind. He dashed, breath choking in his lungs, yelling Cube's name, and the walls shouted it back at him, and no one else replied.

At last he reached the end of the pipe. The rainy sky seemed to be spitting in his face. _You lost her, buddy._

The darkness was clutching at his back. He didn't want to go back into it. He didn't want to get swallowed up like she had.

But…

__

I damn well won't lose her. 

He turned to stare back at the pipe.

Then he gritted his teeth, and ran back inside.

Some time later, Kell strolled out of the pipe. Her spikes began to wilt as she stepped into the rain.

She stopped to look back into the pipe, and the shadow swallowed her face. She squinted a little, then nodded.

She'd skated through it several times, to make sure, and now she was positive.

There was no one inside.


	7. Poor depraved souls

Chapter 7

__

Sometime late that night

Slice and Dice, the idiot brothers of the Poison Jam, stood snickering at the mouth of the full-pipe on the far end of the entrance. Being so dumb, they were completely ignorant of the ice-cold buckets of rain being dumped all over the place, themselves included.

"Hey, you know what they've been saying about this thing?" Slice asked, punching Dice in the chest.

Dice punched Slice back and kicked his legs out from underneath him. "No."

"Well, I heard that GG with the green glasses yelling at some stupid renegade this afternoon." Slice snickered again. "Rudies are disappearing in this thing."

"Ohhh, sweet! Just like in I Know What Hannibal Screamed Last Winter III!" Dice jumped up and down and did a happy dance, and Slice smacked him on the head.

"Stop acting like a retard," Slice said, not realizing how much of a stretch that would be for any member of the Poison Jam. "We can go into this thing and see whatever it is that's taking the Rudies away--then we can capture it and act out the movie!"

"Fuckin'-A!"

Of course, the two stupid Poison Jammers did the coolest thing that they could think of, and hunkered down into the full-pipe, following its downward slant until they were completely immersed in shadow. They sniggered the entire way down, not realizing that within the past twenty-four hours, not one, but at least three Rudies had gone missing. And since it was really after-hours, the half-pipe was completely bathed in darkness; no lights were on, and seeing as the pipe was underground, the only light came from the moonlight shining through the occasional grate overhead, but even that was sore and pathetic. Their only real advantage was that they were used to the darkness, as constant occupants of Kogane's sewers or something like that.

"Dude, we been skating down here for hours," Dice groaned.  
"We ain't been down here longer than a few minutes, dumb-fuck. Get over it." Slice went to punch out at his idiot brother, but was interrupted by a flash of pink and blue. Both Poison Jammers stopped in their tracks; half-bathed in shadow was some thin, lanky, wire-frame of a person. There was cloudy moonlight shining down from overhead, so all they could make out on him was one thing on it: the "Uki Uki Waku Waku" Broken Heart T-shirt of the Love Shockers.

"What the hell are you doing here, you bitch?" Slice demanded. "Get outta our way--we're monster-hunting!"

This drew no response out of the person wearing the shirt, and Slice's furor increased--he didn't like being ignored. He was used to at least getting a response of some kind; he was goliath enough to draw one no matter what it was.

"Answer me. Come on!" Still getting nothing, Slice shook his head and advanced on the Love Shocker--just to get a wiry hand wrapping around his sides. Slice screamed. Dice rumbled, wishing he'd eaten something that wasn't so gas-inducing, and before he realized it, whoever his brother had been yelling at was gone.

And Slice had gone with it.

Deciding that sitting in his own fart wasn't fun, Dice hunkered and continued forward through the full-pipe, oblivious to his brother's disappearance.

The Next Day

Tab and Mew skated across the park, frowning. Neither Beat nor Cube had returned the night before; Tab was sure that if the latter had not disappeared, she'd know something was up by now. It was still raining, so the park was empty save themselves. They kept looking back and forth, cautiously, nervously, wanting to avoid any and all conflict with anyone until this mini-mystery was solved.

There's no way Beat's gone like that, Tab thought to himself hysterically. No way on earth. He's one of the damn toughest Rudies I know, and he's my best friend. He CAN'T be gone. I won't believe it. He's prolly...he's prolly just asleep under the awning of a Snack Shack or something! Yeah...it was raining so hard last night and he didn't wanna come back home without catching pneumonia, so he crashed here somewhere. He's NOT gone.

"Little Grind City's empty, I think," Mew murmured distantly, standing up on the toes of her skates and shielding her eyes. "Let's go over there and check. That's Combo's and Cube's turf, remember?"

"D'uh. Mew, there's nothing to hide them there, it's just grind rails. We'd be able to see someone if they were there," Tab growled bitterly, shaking his head.

"Right...okay, then what about ChiBenten?"

"Those bowls must be filled with water by now," Tab murmured, shivering slightly as cold water seeped through his boiler suit, coming in contact with his vulnerable skin. Drops of ice wriggled their way past his collar and down his back. "The drains don't get opened for another hour yet."

Mew growled. "Christ, here I am, trying to help you find our leader. Yes, I realize that there could be something more to this than meets the eye, but standing around and moping won't help us get the job done! ChiGane?"

Tab shook his head, and Mew threw a frustrated growl his way. "All right, then, Mr. Know-it-all, where would they be?"

"The full-pipe," Tab mumbled. "That's the center of all the disappearances, right? Maybe they wound up crashing there."

"I hope that you're right," Mew muttered, shaking her head and shrugging. "Because if you aren't, I'll harm you."

Tab hung his head. "Please, do that. I want to wake up from this god-forsaken nightmare. Mew, Beat is my best friend! I feel like...like I've abandoned him. I didn't step forward to come here last night. I was too lazy, I insisted on staying at the garage, and now Beat and Cube are gone, too." He scowled, then blinked, realizing that tears had been welling up in his eyes and blurring his vision. He swallowed deeply to hold them back.

The pair skated towards the full-pipe. As they got closer, they heard voices--heated voices, hushed voices, as if they were arguing and not trying to be too conspicuous. The two GGs exchanged quick glances from the corners of their eyes, slowing down to a lurk. The argument was taking place on the other side of the full-pipe, and from the sound of it, quite a few people were involved. Mew and Tab crept around the big mystery's gigantic mouth, which was cool and damp; peeking around it, they saw the Poison Jam huddled close to each other, arguing fervently while their leader, Thrash, stood over all of them with her hands on her hips and a scowl etched onto her face. Neither GG was sure what the Poison Jammers were arguing about, but the words "full-pipe," "missing" and "Love Shocker" were the most dominant words.

Interrupting this argument would either take a lot of balls, or a lot of stupidity; thankfully, Tab prided himself on both traits. Thus, he stepped past Mew and walked up to the ring of Jammers, coughing slightly.

"BRAHHAARR!" The nearest ones screamed, jumping and whirling on him. Tab panicked and took a few steps backwards. Mew appeared behind him and held him by the shoulders.

"It's okay, Tab," she whispered into his ear. "This might help us find Beat and the rest."

"H-h--ohio," Tab stammered, raising a hand nervously. "We couldn't h-h-help but hear you arguing, and--"

"One of our members was kidnapped last night," Thrash growled impatiently. "Yes, and we've got a witness, too." She pointed at Dice, who stepped forward hesitantly.

"Well, Slice an' me was in the pipe, coz we wanted to reenact I Know What Hannibal Screamed Last Winter III," Dice mumbled stupidly, "but we was interrupted by someone wearing a Love Shocker shirt. Then they both was gone. I farted and left."

Mew gagged, and Tab fell to the ground, scowling.

"So now we know for sure who did it," Thrash cut in, pushing Dice out of the way. "It was that damn Love Shocker leader--whasser name--Kell?"

"Yeah, that's her, all right," Mew coughed.

"Once she shows up, we're gonna bum-rush her and throw her in a cage till she fesses up where the rest of the Rudies are," Thrash added, drawing cheers from the rest of her gang. "And we'll torture her, just like in House on 13th Street II! We'll rip her spleen out and feed it to the rats! We'll force her to eat goo! We'll--"

"That's QUITE ENOUGH!" Tab yelled, blowing his top. "I so do not want to hear this!! My best friend is missing, and--"

Thrash blinked. "Wait, you've never seen House on 13th Street II?"

"No, I haven't, I--"

"YOU POOR DEPRAVED SOUL!!" Thrash wailed. She grabbed Tab by the wrist and hauled him away. "The rest of you, keep an eye out for that whore! I'VE GOT ME SOME EDUCATIN' TO DO!"

"Nooooooooo!!!" Tab screamed, tears streaming down his face. "I don't waannaaaaaaa!!"

Mew sighed and sweat dropped. She'd better go back and report this to the rest of the GGs...

Later

The ambush was set.

Slate and Yo-Yo sat crouched in the mouth of the full-pipe with Mew. Nearby, Hexadecimal and Tracer were lounging in one of the bowls. Crash and Mince of the Poison Jam were waiting in the shadows of the half-pipe, which was raised above the ground. The rain was still falling, not quiet as hard as it had been before, but still just as cold. A few Rudies were scattered elsewhere--Scorn had been seen lurking near ChiBuya, but nobody paid any attention to him. That Noise Tank that Gum and Garam had befriended, Disk, was dashing like mad through the park, practically screaming for his lost love, Matrix.

"So, what if the Shockers don't show up?" Tracer murmured.

"Then we just wasted a whole day lying here and doing nothing," Slate admitted, never one to embellish the truth. "Soooo...we have to wait."

"Wonderful, mate."

"No, I don't think this day's a waste yet," Hex murmured. "I see the Love Shocker colors heading this way...yeah, it's her."

"How can you tell?"  
"She's the only black Love Shocker, isn't she?"

"Ahh."

"And she's coming this way..."

"Good."

Hex climbed from the bowl and skated casually past the hiding spot of the GGs. "Hey Kell," they heard her say easily.

"What to you want?" Kell replied, sounding impatient.

"Well, you know how people've been suspicious of that renegade? The one who made all the Rudies disappear?"

"Yeah."

They came closer, the sound of their skates grating on concrete becoming apparent.

"We've found out who really did it," Hex replied. "It isn't the renegade."  
"Really? You've got people who saw whoever was doing it?"  
"Yeah, we do. We're gonna bust them today."

Kell and Hex came into sight, and Hex flashed a sign with her right hand. That was the signal. Mew and Yo-Yo charged from the full-pipe, not noticing their third member's inactivity. The other three Rudies popped up from their own hiding spots, surrounding Kell. Tracer grabbed her wrists and pulled them behind her back, holding her in place.

"Fuck!" Kell growled, trying to pull free. "What the hell is this all about?? Do you think I did it??"

"A Poison Jammer went missing last night," Mew snarled. "And three GGs. One of them was our leader, and...and..."

"What, you loved him?" Kell sneered. "That's so cliché. Good of them to get lost like that! It isn't my problem; I've got my own gang-mates to worry about!"

A frown etched itself into Mew's face, and she reached out to slap the Love Shocker. Kell's head jerked to the side, and blood fled from her mouth, splattering across the damp ground and disappearing into the water. In the distance, Disk's screams fell quiet, their echoes bounding off the moist rails and soaked pipes and bowls, off the cold gates surrounding the entire place. Even the brightest, liveliest of the graffiti seemed to be taken down by the horribly deteriorating mood of the day.

"The Poison Jammer's brother saw someone wearing a Love Shocker tank top," Tracer said coldly. "You know, that infamous "Uki Uki Waku Waku" one. The one that you're wearing."

"You know how dark it is in that thing?" Kell demanded. "How hard it would be to see a shirt like that??"

"We're used to darkness," Crash thundered.

Kell stared, wide-eyed. "No. No, no! Akina's missing! And Shar! Why would I kidnap my own gang?"

"To prove that you didn't do it," Yo-Yo grumbled. "But you did, you dumb bitch. You fucking kidnapped our leader! You only get so many lives before it's game over, and you've done a real good job of pissing all of us off."

"Let her go."

Heads turned to look at the speaker--Scorn, standing on the top of the half-pipe that the Poison Jammers had been hiding behind.

"What do you wanna make of it?" Yo-Yo demanded. "This excuses you."

"She didn't do it, that's why," Scorn growled, jumping down from the half-pipe and landing just outside the circle of Rudies. "I know she didn't. I dunno who it was, but it wasn't her."

"Maybe it was both of you," Mince pointed out. "We don't have any proof that you're not helping her. And you're suspicious."

"I didn't do it, either," Scorn growled, narrowing his eyes. "You guys don't get it! Look at that full-pipe. It's practically drowning in shadow, and you're willing to jump to a conclusion drawn by an idiot who only had a little bit of moonlight to help him see a stupid tank-top! Your evidence is weak and mal-formed."

"Shut up," Hex said, cracking Scorn on the back of his head with her tagging arm. He whirled and glared at her hatefully, just before his eyes rolled up into his skull. He fell to the ground, unconscious. Tracer likewise hit Kell, and slung her limp form over his shoulder. Crash grabbed Scorn.

"We'll take 'em off to the sewers," Crash grunted. "There's a room there we can lock 'em into that they won't be able to get out of. Till then, the rest of you keep a look out for the others." They skated off, and the other Rudies dispersed. They were wet and wanted to go home.

As Mew and Yo-Yo went for the exit, Yo-Yo stopped, realizing something was missing. "Yo, kat...where's Slate? And where'd that weird Noise Tank go, the one that was screamin' for their leader?"

Mew paused. "Uh-oh."

Yo-Yo heaved a curse, and dashed back to the full-pipe to look for Slate, but the tall Rudie was nowhere to be found. He came back to Mew wearing a bitter expression on his face, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Okay, so...what. Last we saw him was before we charged, right? And when did the Noise Tank stop yelling?"

"I don't know," Mew wailed, swallowing the lump rising up in her throat. "If--if it really is Scorn and Kell working together, he could have nabbed them easily, since we weren't paying attention to them! And then he could have climbed up onto the half pipe's lip--you--you've seen h-how he can just appear and disappear like he does...." She felt vulnerable--the four toughest GGs had all disappeared in such a short time span...

Yo-Yo felt awkward hugging Mew, but he felt that it was the best he could do to stop her tears from flowing. 

Bus Terminal

Gum sat on the cold roof of one of the bus shelters, rain pattering down around her, splashing her face in dirty water that was colder than ice. Garam had split Tokyo for the day, saying he wanted to check a hunch near the borders and around the Rokkaku Tower. While Yo-Yo, Slate and Mew had gone to spring the ambush and Tab was being "educated" by Thrash, Piranha had opted to stay at the garage. Gum really couldn't blame her; there was just too much going on to absorb effectively. Beat, Combo and Cube were missing. Matrix was missing. Shar and Akina were missing. That renegade--the one Mew had mentioned the night before--was missing. The garage might have been warmer and definitely drier, but it was too claustrophobic, too stifling. She could ignore the icy fingers crawling down her neck, her legs, her spine, chilling her, numbing her, making her breath come out in chops, her lips turn blue. She needed to be some place where she could think without the cramped atmosphere of the garage to drive her insane. The rain helped her out, keeping her head cool and her mind lethargic.

A shiver worked its way up her back, and she heaved a mighty, cold yawn. She should have at least worn a jacket, she decided. Or a blanket. And a pillow. Yeah...sleep actually sounded good right now. She hadn't gotten any at all last night. Please come back, Beat...it was almost too painful to bear. She could have dealt with the rivals and renegades vanishing, but Beat...Beat was invincible! There was that brave smirk he was always wearing, even in the heat of danger, and he was always cool-headed enough to think a way out of the biggest traps...there's no way he'd let some filthy bugger come and snatch him away.

She flopped backwards onto the metal with a hollow thud, her legs dangling over the edge, dripping cold water from the wheels of her skates. Her socks were damp on the inside, and she couldn't feel her big toe. Rain tapped her helmet with a wild rhythm, and she stared up at the gray sky with blurring vision. The way the clouds were rolling, all in one solid direction, and the sound of the rain landing all over her body, the feel of a numbing massage...Gum didn't care if she was lying on surrogated metal. It was as close to a bed as she could get, and she so did not feel like getting up again.

"Rain, rain, go away, come again another day..." Gum murmured, eyes half-closed. 'Pain, pain, go away...' her mind echoed. Beat...

I hate you, too.

Gum closed her eyes fully, and her breathing became heavier.

I hate you, too. I hate you and all of your friends. I'll rise from the bottom and snatch them all away, and nobody will realize it was me before it was too late. And then you'll be all alone, and you know what? We can hate each other equally, with nothing and no-one to come between us.

"Rain, rain...go away..." Gum whispered, drifting into a cold sleep. Water continued to fall from the sky, and now it was becoming hard again, but she was oblivious to all of it...


	8. The One With All the crazy horror movie ...

Chapter 8 – by Tallulah

Falling, falling, down into blackness that clawed at her face. Cold. She struggled to call out, groped around trying to rip the dark from her face. Her voice echoed, and moonlight roared in through the grating. 

The full pipe.

"Beat!" she yelled. "Where are you?"

_Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?_

Echo, echo, echo.

She began to run. Had to get out of here. Had to get out or they'd all laugh at her and say she liked the stupid skate park. But she'd never been here. She didn't know her way out. She was trapped. 

"Beat?" she called again. "Cube! Combo! Where the hell are you?"

A wave of shivering broke over her, leaving her breathless. The pipe was getting longer and longer, the moonlight casting a freaky green glow over the scene. 

Had she come here to find Garam? Yes, she remembered now, Garam had gone too, and she had to find him. Had to. Garam was smart and kind and he made her feel safe. 

And then she heard it. 

"I hate you too."

Not a voice in her head this time. It reverberated around the walls of the pipe, and she froze, pressing herself against the wall.

"And you hate me. Don't you?"

It mustn't find me, Gum thought, tears stinging her eyes, it mustn't. 

"Answer me!"

Someone screamed. 

It's only a dream, part of Gum's brain told her. But the rest of her knew it was real. Her thumping heart knew it. Her neck, prickling with terrified sweat. Her lungs, shrinking to the back of her ribs, making it impossible to breathe. 

"I can find you. I can find you."

Slowly, the footsteps came closer. Gum wanted to run, but moving, escaping, dashing into the dark…that would only make it worse. It could watch her struggle and then squash her flat. 

"You do hate me. I can hurt you. So you hate me. I hate you and all your friends."

Another scream. 

She knew that one. 

"Gum! Help me!"

"Beat!" she yelled.

The footsteps got faster. 

"Hate you, hate you, hate you…" Rough breathing rasped on the walls. "Want to hear something else?"

"Gum, we're in here, we're –"

Cube, cut off, suddenly. Gum pressed a hand to her mouth, feeling tears run over it.

"Nearly got you."

"Gum! You gotta…" And then Combo was cut off too, with a groan. 

And the thing turned the corner, and Beat and Cube and Combo screamed, "Run!" 

Gum screamed. Screamed, "Garam! Help me! Help me!"

It's a dream…wake up…wake up!

And suddenly she realised her eyes were closed, and she tore them open, tore a hole in the dream, and rushed out, back into a pool of water on the bus terminal roof.

She crouched there, shivering, then scooped up some rain water and splashed herself in the face with it. She could feel her eyes closing, and every time they did she saw…she saw…what?

"Gum?"

Gum sat up, and looked over the edge of the roof. Yo-Yo and Mew stood there. As soon as she saw their faces, she knew she didn't want to hear what they were going to say.

"Don't tell me," she said. "Just don't."

"Slate," Mew sobbed. "He's gone, too. He – we – we were all at the end of the full pipe, and – and something just – just snatched him away, I mean…if we'd looked, we would have seen who it was…"

"We know who it was." Yo-Yo's face, missing its normal smile, looked like it had lost some vital structure. "It was Scorn, or Kell, or both. Look, the Jammers are looking after them. It'll all stop now."

Gum hunched her shoulders as her teeth rattled in her skull. So someone else was gone now. She knew she should be crying as hard as Mew was, but she couldn't. Instead there was a dull ache in her throat that made her feel tired.

"You okay?" Yo-Yo said at last, shading his eyes against the damp sunlight. "You're soaked."

Gum nodded, and slid off the roof to stand next to the other two. 

"I'm going home," she said. "You?"

"I'll come with you," Mew said, as another tear ran down her nose.

Yo-Yo nodded, and the three rudies skated away.

Kell and Scorn lay slumped in a small concrete room in Kogane-cho sewers. It was speckled with Poison Jam tags, empty paint cans, and broken horror movie tapes. 

Kell groaned, and opened her eyes. 

"Oh, shit," she muttered, and closed them. She sat up, touched the bruise on the back of her head, winced, and groaned again.

"Hey, renegade," she called. "Wake up!"

Scorn stubbornly remained unconscious. Kell glowered, got to her feet, and tottered towards him. Prodding him with the toe of her skate, she yelled, _"Wake up!"_

Scorn blinked. "Ouch. What was that for?"

"I just thought you'd like to know we're trapped in the sewers. Probably by the Poison Jammers. Who are probably even now planning to re-enact their favourite slasher movies. Have you seen House On 13th Street II?"

"No."

"Well, I have, and so have they, and it's not a pleasant sight."

Scorn stretched his arms above his head. "I've seen I Know What You Screamed At Last Autumn's Scary Movie Project IV. Is it as bad as that?"

"Probably."

"Nuts." 

Both rudies sighed.

"Any way out of this place?" Kell asked at last.

"Hey, you woke up first."

Kell skated over to the metal door, kicked it a few times, and rattled the handle. "Well, that ain't gonna open."

Scorn stared around. "And there don't seem to be any convenient air vents, secret passages, or trapdoors."

"You thought there would be? Even the Jammers aren't that stupid."

"That's generous of you. Seriously, this doesn't look good."

"Well, don't blame me," Kell snapped. "You didn't have to get involved. Could have kept your mouth shut."

"Hey, I was trying to help you."

"Why?"

Scorn shrugged. "I'm sick of people jumping to conclusions and picking on the first person they see."

"So you think it wasn't me?"

"Why would you kidnap your own gang?"

Kell shrugged. "How do I know it wasn't you?"

"Why would I kidnap a renegade? Look, what the morons out there aren't getting is that _none _of us would snatch rudies like that. Ten-tag them, yeah. Ambush them and beat the crap out of them, yeah. Force them to watch hideously trashy slasher fics, yeah. But knock them over the head when they walk into the full pipe? What sort of revenge is that?"

"An effective one," Kell said, and smirked. "You saw little miss kitty-kat getting all teary-eyed over the GG leader? That Noise Tank doing a neat impression of a wolf? Us two sitting here with our heads bashed in? Everyone's getting jumpy."

"But…come on," Scorn said. "If I thought of doing what this person's doing, I'd slap myself round the head for being idiotic."

"But someone's done it."

"How?" Scorn got to his feet, stumbling slightly. "Where're they putting everyone? That Combo guy's big, it's not like you could just stash him behind a rock."

"Somewhere in the full pipe," Kell said. "Duh. Anyway, why are you bothered? I thought you couldn't care less about gangs and stuff."

"I don't," Scorn said. "But I do care about angry mobs and getting myself knocked out. I'm getting a little pissed off."

"Well, I searched that pipe," Kell said. "The night the two GGs disappeared. And…it's long. It's concrete. It's dark. It's a pipe, basically. That's it."

"Oh, so you were hanging around when they vanished?"

"Yeah. I thought…I thought I remembered something. I thought I knew who it was…not that I told the GG that. But I was wrong."

Scorn gave her a long, thoughtful look. "Really?"

"Yes, really!" Kell's eyes narrowed. "What are you getting at?" 

"Just makin' a point."

"I thought you said you knew no rudie would have done it."

Scorn shrugged. "Yeah, but it's fun pissing you off."

Kell scowled at him, then dropped down next to him, resting her chin on her hands. "If those two idiots did see someone in one of these…" She indicated her tank top. "I'd sure like to know who."

"You sure you can trust your gang members?"

Kell snorted. "Member. Dash is the only one left apart from me. And I don't trust her, but I don't think she'd do something like this."

"What about the other two missing ones?"

"Give me a break. Why'd they do something like this?"

Scorn sighed, and lay back, pushing a shattered copy of Scream At Hannibal Blair's Summer House On Elm Street VI out of his way. "I dunno. Looks like we are the most likely suspects."

Kell lay back as well. "Great."

She listened a moment, then said, "Can you hear footsteps?"

Scorn thought.

"Yeah."

"Uh-oh."

Gum sat on the sofa, shivering. She'd changed out of her saturated clothes into the T-shirt she wore at night, and she had a blanket round her shoulders, but she was still cold. Or frightened. Or maybe both.

Piranha was leaning against one of the pillars holding up the garage roof, picking at a loose seam on her shirt. Yo-Yo was lying flat on the car roof, flicking through a porno magazine with a blank look on his face. Tab was sitting next to Gum, channel-hopping manically and jumping at small noises. And Mew was curled up on the sound system, head on her arms, lip still trembling.

Garam wasn't back yet. Gum wished he would come. Not that she was being a wimp or anything. But…well, she just wanted to see him. That was all.

Mew stared at the pinball machine, and then started to cry again.

"What's wrong?" Gum snapped as tears stung her own eyes.

"Slate…he…he was gonna challenge me to a tournament…" Mew sobbed. "He said no one could beat his hi-score. And now he's gone…"

"Don't," Piranha said, her own voice growing husky. 

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" Mew rubbed a hand across her eyes, smearing the makeup away and exposing her reddened eyes. "I just want this all to be a dream…I just want to wake up…"

"Tell me about it," Yo-Yo said, staring fixedly at the magazine, which was upside down. "The garage is way too empty."

"But – but do you think – do you think they'll come back?" Mew said. "What's happened to them?"

"Scorn and Kell thought they'd freak us all out by kidnapping them, that's all," Piranha said. "It's a dumb practical joke. I bet all the missing ones are going stir-crazy, locked up together. Slate'll be getting pinball withdrawal symptoms."

Mew gave her a watery smile, but it didn't last long before it drowned.

"Tab?" Gum said.

Tab jumped slightly. "Um – yeah?"

"Look, when you, well, left the Jammers, had they found out anything from Scorn and Kell?"

"Not that I know. Thing is, they were gonna ask them as soon as they brought 'em back, but then they found me and Thrash. We were onto Last Spring's Psycho Project: Hannibal's Return VII by then…" He shuddered. "And so they all got sidetracked."

"So they all stayed watching until you left?"

"Uh-huh. And let me tell you, horror movies are even less fun when you've got a bunch of rancid Poison Jammers standing a foot away from you, going 'Cool!' and 'Yeah!' and 'Look, his guts are coming out his ass like toothpaste.' Doesn't add anything to the quality of the film."

Suddenly the door flew open, and Garam dashed inside.

"Hey, guys," he called, then stopped as he saw Mew crying. "Oh, man. Guys, what's happened?"

Gum explained about Slate, and about Scorn and Kell's capture.

"And that Noise Tank," Yo-Yo said, flinging his magazine into a corner. "Matrix's boyfriend. What's his name…"

Garam and Gum stared at each other. 

"Disk?" Gum said at last.

"Yup. He disappeared same time as Slate did."

Gum clenched her fists. "No. No way."

"Why?"

"He was cool!" Gum said. "He hung out with us! He hated that stupid park! And now Kell and her renegade boyfriend have nabbed him and it's just so bloody stupid and they are a pair of jerks!"

Tab blinked. "So you're pissed, then."

"Yes," Gum snapped, the words hurting her mouth as she spoke them. "Yes, I am."

"He and Slate disappeared at the same time?" Garam whistled. "Scorn had to have moved damn fast."

"Well, it should all stop now," Piranha said. "Once Scorn and Kell 'fess up, and we can go get the others, then everything'll be back to normal. Gum, maybe you and Garam could come hang out in the park a bit –"

"No."

Gum felt hollow inside as Piranha rolled her eyes. Once this was over, everything would be back to normal. No friends again.

She shook her head. At this rate, she'd have no friends _now._ And at least when they just chose not to hang with her, she knew they were safe. 

Anything could be happening now.

Scorn and Kell eyed the door nervously as the footsteps got closer.

"It can't be that bad," Kell said at last. "They're only Poison Jammers."

"Five words," Scorn replied. "House On 13th Street II."


	9. Strip down to your underwear, dammit!

Chapter 9 – by Tei/Disk

"Disk is gone, Slate is gone...there's something about this that we're missing," Garam murmured, running his hand over his chin. "Yo-Yo--how long was it between the two of them disappearing?"

"I dunno," Yo-Yo shrugged, closing his eyes and putting his head against the roof of the car. He laid the porno over his face, his voice came back muffled. "It was long enough for Scorn to snatch both and confront us--we'd had Kell cornered, you know?"

"He could have done it to prove a point," Tab admitted, nodding. He flipped the TV off, deciding he'd had enough for one day.

"But that makes no sense," Gum said, standing up and wrapping her arms around her stomach. She glared down at the tiles beneath her skates. "If he was trying to keep himself innocent, why'd he kidnap two Rudies just as we were nailing someone?"

"It just doesn't fit, all right?" Piranha burst. "Yes, I think he and that Love Shocker did it, but you know what? Who else could it have been?"

"It could have been anyone!" Garam said, coming to Gum's defense. "For all we know, it could be--could be Onishima..."

"You don't think," Tab said, looking at Garam and snorting. "Could he be keeping his mook squad in the park and jumping us when we don't suspect it? Pfft, yeah right."

"We can't rule it out," Gum said. "See? There's no way that we can limit it to Kell and Scorn! For all we know, it was the cops, the Rhinos, or even Professor K!"

"Then why are you two just standing here instead of proving it wasn't those ass holes?" Yo-Yo said. "I'm sorry, but I'm with everyone else on this one." Piranha nodded in agreement, slowly. Tab looked doubtful, but remained silent.

"What about you?" Garam asked, turning to Mew. The girl's lip trembled, and she shook her head.

"I think it was them," she muttered, curling up tighter into herself "I really think it was them."

Garam threw his hands up into the air. "Then I guess it's just you and me again, Gum. Come on--we'll go terrorize Shorty for a bit."

"What do you plan to do to him?" Gum inquired, once she and Garam were out of the garage. Rain fizzled down around them, but it was dying out, and thankfully so--Gum had had enough rain for one day.

"Well, he's obviously a suspect nobody seriously considered before," Garam explained. "So he'll be surprised if we get the jump on him no matter what, right? I figure, we lure him into a mini-trap, corner him, and press him for information."

"Garam, it won't work."

"Why won't it?"

"Don't you remember when we saw him yesterday?" Gum sighed. "He said he didn't dare go into that park, for the same reasons that we do--it's no fun there! The Keisatsu and the Rudies are practically old chums!"

Garam sweat dropped. "Shit. Okay, so what if it isn't Onishima? Should we just go torment him anyway?"

"We've got to help Scorn and Kell," Gum said, shaking her head. "As much as I don't like them for being such pains in the asses even before the park was finished, we've got to stop the Poison Jam from doing something they'll regret."

"That line about guts coming out someone's ass like toothpaste comes to mind," Garam murmured, shuddering. "Right. Okay. Right. Let's go save them."

Gum smirked. "That's more like it."

---

The door burst open and Thrash marched in. She cast her glance left and right, peered through the darkness; two lumps, one black and one red, lay against the far wall. She gestured with a hand, and two more burly Poison Jammers came in after her. They advanced on the still-sleeping Rudies, each one pulling a knife from their overalls, rusted and bent but still deadly. They lunged and felt their knives sink deep into the...pillows? Thrash stopped and tossed her knife away, turning over the lump she had been killing; it was a bunch of pillows and trash stuffed into a Love Shocker's shirt and pants...

"We been duped!" one of the others yelled, showing her the similar collection of crap that had been stuffed into the other Rudie's clothes. The door slammed shut behind them, the lock bolted shut, and something dragged in front of it. With a roar, Thrash charged to the door and shoulder-tackled it. The door wobbled but didn't break, and Thrash passed out when something in her shoulder popped.

"Shit."

---

"Scorn, your plan was brilliant, but did we have to go in our underwear?"

"Would you rather go naked or be dead? I think the underwear's a damn good trade-off all things considered!"

Kell flinched as something crashed into the door from the other side. She glanced at the refrigerator nervously and hoped it could stand up to an enraged Poison Jammer. She and Scorn headed to the exit of the sewers, stopping at the TV room; the rest of the Poison Jammers were hypnotized by the TV. The other two Rudies peeked around the corner just in time to watch a kid bury a hockey stick into the back of some woman in a robe.

"Dude, it's Dogma," Scorn hissed. "That's not a scary movie as much as a fucking funny one..."

"Who cares?" Kell rolled her eyes. "We're getting out of here, but I want to find some clothes first. Kogane is a huge center for rapists, and I refuse to step foot topside unless I've got something less revealing to wear!"

"I could probably go and get you something," Scorn smirked. "Boxers are better then panties any day. On a guy, at least."

"Fuck you, it's people like you that help make my gang."

"You guys make yourselves, we just give you the starting push. Now, leaving you down here isn't going to help either of us; if you get caught, then I'm alone again and you're dead. We need to stick close if we gonna prove we're innocent. And I don't think the Jammers keep any spare shit around here, so we're gonna have to steal the shirts right off their backs."

"Why would we nick something so...gross?"

"You wanna go up in the silky pinks, it's fine by me."

"...fuck. Okay, gotta plan?"

"Quite so. Kell, it's time to use what your momma gave you."

---

"YES!! GO!! Jay rules you, man."

"FUCK NO!! Silent Bob can kick Jay's ass any day! Lookadim! He's built like me!"

"Rufus would kick all ass! He's got the biggest dick, he said so himself when he showed up!"

"Not to mention that Jay thinks of guys when he jacks!!"

"SCREW YOU!!"

A very lithe, very female leg thrust itself out into clear view of any Poison Jammer that would look its way. Nobody noticed, they were too busy watching the movie. A low whistle rang through the air, still nothing.

"Uh...Kill. Slap. Uh...what are good Poison Jam names??"

"Try Crash and Dice, and be sexy!"

The whistle sounded again, and a seductive voice called, "Oh Crash...Dice..." two Poison Jammers looked up and saw the leg, and a hand running along the top slowly; they exchanged quick glances with each other before hefting themselves off the floor and crossing to the door way. The leg and hand retracted, and when the two Jammers got there, they saw Kell—and then saw nothing but bright stars.

---

Scorn tossed his pipe away into the sewage and dragged Crash out of sight. He grabbed Dice next and proceeded to undress each one. He tossed one costume to Kell, and she sneered.

"This stuff smells like armpits and crap," she said. "And sweat."

"Put it on. And don't forget the mask. And take off your eye patch."

"Picky, picky..."

The two got dressed, and headed surface-side.

"We look ridiculous in these things." Kell rolled her eyes. "They're about ten sizes too big."

"We don't have a choice. We're somewhat inconspicuous like this because nobody wants to mess with the Poison Jam in the first place, and any other Rudie will be looking for a black Love Shocker and a renegade with a bucket hat, not a pair of Poison Jammers."

"Good poi—uff!"

Kell found herself tumbling over Gum. The pair rolled to a stop at the bottom of Kiboagoka, crashing hard into the old warehouse. Garam and Scorn dashed down after them.

"Fuck, stupid bitch!" Kell screamed. "Watch where you're going!"

"Wait, hold it!" Garam said. "We weren't trying to cross you guys, it was an accident!"

Scorn snarled. "Get the fuck away from us."

"Wait, hold on." Gum shoved Kell away and climbed to her feet. "I'm not a dumbass. I know who the two of you are."

"Fuck. Gonna turn us back over to the Poison Jam now?" Scorn rolled his eyes.

"No," Garam said. "We were coming to save you. The PeeJays might be our allies, but they're a bit over-the-top to keep prisoners."

"Then what do you plan to do?"

"We haven't quite gotten there yet," Gum said. "But we don't think it's you. We don't think you kidnapped the Rudies, I mean. As much as I don't like you."

"Well, that's mutual," Kell said. "But please—just let us go. We'll lie low until this entire thing is cleared up, we promise."

"That's the thing, while we don't think it was you, everyone else in the world does, even some of the cops. If you want to get proven innocent, you'll have to come with us and stay as our prisoners."

"Bullshit. We just escaped, we are not going into captivity again—"

"We've gotta," Scorn said. His voice was husky. "Yeah, we avoided certain death just now, but what good will it do? If they don't catch anyone, we'll be dead, but going back makes us just as dead. If we get locked away in a place we can't escape from and get care from these two, then we're still oodles better off than in any other situation. I don't think you want to leave Tokyo, do you? Abandon your gang, Akina?"

"N...no."

"Then we've got to put up with it."

Kell heaved a sigh. "All right. Fine with me. I'm sick of caring. As long as I can get something decent to wear, I'll be the happiest little girl in the world."

---

"This place ain't the grandest, but it'll do." Garam made a sweeping gesture with his hand to the dank, shadowy old room that really didn't seem any different from the one the Poison Jammers had kept them in. There were a few dirty old windows here and there, illuminating the floor with patches of dim light. There was also a rickety table set against one wall.

"We'll come to you as often as we can to bring you food and stuff," Gum promised. "I'll try to smuggle a Game Boy out here to you."

"Won't me much use in this gloom," Scorn said, looking around.

"And we'll be back with something for you to wear in a bit," added Garam. "But right now, we gotta check on something...we'll be back soon. Just try not to screw each other too hard, hear me?"

Gum slapped Garam on the shoulder. He laughed as he closed and locked the door loudly, leaving the two suspect-Rudies alone once again.

"Back to square one." Kell sighed and flopped back against a wall.

"We made some steps. Now we don't have to worry about getting gutted—hey, look above that table..."

"Huh?"

"It's a broken window..."


	10. We crave porn and a cheeseburger

Chapter 10 – by Tallulah

"Come on, Mew," Yo-Yo said. "We may as well try and enjoy ourselves a little." 

"I don't want to go out to that skate park," Mew sniffed. 

"But you just said yourself it was Scorn and Kell, and they're safely locked up with the Poison Jammers. So it's all okay now. And anyway – and I never thought I'd say this – I think I overdosed on porn. I'm all light-headed."

Mew grinned a little, fingering her Hello Kitty necklace. "Well…okay, I guess I could. It's perfectly safe, isn't it? Right, Piranha?"

"Yeah, go enjoy yourself," Piranha said. "I'm stayin' here, though. Just in case – well, you know."

In case anyone turns up, Mew filled in silently, and sighed.

The skate park was humid, buried in sunlight. 

"It looks okay," Mew said, staring round. "Where'd you wanna go?"

Yo-Yo grinned. "The PJs are pretty busy at the moment, I should think. Let's surprise them with a decorating job on Chi-gane."

"Don't be an idiot," Kell said, looking from Scorn to the broken window and back again. "We'll be screwed if we go out there."

"I guess." Scorn turned away from the window and flopped down against one of the tables. 

Kell leant against the wall and sighed. It was getting hot in here, and she kept sneezing on the dust. 

"But who could be doing it?" she said.

"I don't know. If I did, I'd set the Poison Jammers on them." Scorn leaned back and closed his eyes. "A Love Shocker tank top…the full pipe…doesn't care who it kidnaps…I don't know…why the hell wasn't this happening before? What is it about the skate park?"

Kell shrugged. "I'm bored already," she muttered.

"Only just built," Scorn said, more to himself than Kell. "Built to reward us rudies. Opened by Onishima…"

He stopped, and sat up.

"That's it," he gasped.

"What?"

"I'm going out there."

"No, you'll be sliced and diced and turned into a horror movie tribute!"

"But I've got it!" Scorn leapt to his feet. "I've got to check something…I can prove it…yes, look, I'm going out there, but trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"Why're you so keen to prove yourself?" Kell snapped.

"Because I don't need gangs to run around proving my innocence. I can do it myself."

"Well, fine. See you in the afterlife." Kell scowled.

Scorn pulled a chunk of split wood off the side of the table, stood up on the table as it wobbled precariously, and beat out the rest of the glass of the window with the chunk.

"Trust me," he said. "I know what I'm doing. I was okay about being stuck in here while there was no hope – but this – this is so easy…I know how to get us innocent."

"No, you don't," Kell said. "You just don't want to admit a bunch of gangs got the jump on you, so you're breaking out to do the equivalent of flipping them off."

Scorn ignored her, putting his hands on the windowsill and heaving himself up, over, and out. Kell sighed, and yelled, "Fine, well, don't expect me to provide an alibi for you, jerk!"

There was no reply. She groaned.

Mew stretched. After tagging Chi-gane, she and Yo-Yo had been chased through Chi-benten by three enraged Noise Tanks, lost them in Lost Angles, landing some tags there in the process, taken a short cut through Shocksville (which was practically empty, given that two Love Shockers were missing and one captured) and were now gasping for breath near the entrance to the full pipe.

"You're right," Mew said to Yo-Yo, giggling. "That was fun!"

"I'm always right. Course it was fun, kitty."

Both of them glanced at the shadowy tunnel next to them, and then at each other.

"It's safe now," Yo-Yo said at last.

"Course it is." Mew stared at the pipe.

"We were there," she whispered, "and it was – it was right next to us. It was watching us…it probably waited until we ran so we wouldn't notice Slate was gone…"

"You mean he," Yo-Yo said. "Scorn, remember?" 

"Yeah. Sure."

They stared at the pipe again. 

"Come on," Yo-Yo said at last. "It's pathetic to be scared of a pipe."

Mew swallowed. "Right. Let's go."

They slowly stepped into the shadows.

Scorn dashed through Shibuya, wishing his Poison Jammer outfit wasn't so big on him. And so smelly. And so…Poison Jammerish. But he'd been right, no one messed with him. If they smiled at the bagginess of his clothes, he just had to look at them and they backed off.

He had to get to the skate park. If he was right – if – which he had to be, it felt right, he could see how it all worked – then he could show all the rudies he could find. Then he and Kell would be off the hook, and he could go back to enjoying the skate park and pissing people off. 

And he could get out of this damn uniform for a start.

Nearly at Center Point. Nearly there.

Mew stared up at the sunlight shining through the gratings, and smiled. The pipe was blissfully warm, making her think of sunbathing, swimming, summer evenings. They were right. It was safe now. The evil – no, not the evil, the jerkiness, Scorn and Kell weren't _evil – _had gone.

Soon the others would be coming back. She grinned. They'd be back, safe and sound. She just had to wait a little.

Maybe they were down here. She looked round. Yo-Yo had stopped to get a stone out of his skate, and she couldn't see him. 

It'd be something if she _could _find the others.

"Guys?" she called. "Hey, can anyone hear me?"

Her voice echoed down the sunlit pipe. But there was no answer. Shrugging, Mew skated a little further down, and called again.

And something heard her. 

Scorn crept into the park. Right. To the full pipe. And quick. They'd be bound to recognise him sooner or later, and then it would be flaming torch mobs again. Kell was right, it would have been safer to have stayed behind. But this was too good a chance to pass up.

Mew sighed. Maybe the others weren't here. But where could they be? 

She sank down on the warm ground, next to the thinnest part of the pipe. 

Then she heard a sound.

Scorn skated through the pipe, trying to think. He was kind of nervous now. If he was wrong…

Or even worse, if he was right, and he vanished too…

"Idiot," he told himself. "All they are is locked up someplace, probably ready to kill for some porn and a cheeseburger. That's not terrible."

Anyway, he hoped that was all they were.

Surely…

Nah. Killing rudies…

But it wasn't impossible.

He suddenly felt queasy. He should get out of here. Now.

No. He'd come this far.

He skated on.

Mew sat up a little, and peered round the corner, telling herself nothing was wrong.

"Hello?" she called.

No one there. She breathed a sigh, relief filling her body like cool water. She'd just wait for Yo-Yo –

Hang on. 

What was that?

Scorn rounded the corner. He was coming up to the thinnest part of the full pipe now. Where could it be happening? Matrix had disappeared round here, he was sure he remembered Beat saying so. 

And there was a shadow on the concrete, a human figure.

He moved closer.

Sweat bursting up on her skin, Mew tried to make sense of what she was seeing. 

"So this was how it happened," she whispered. "But that means…"

That meant she was in danger. She had to run. But she couldn't, her body had decided to go for the freeze-in-terror approach, and was doing it well, her lungs were locking like concrete, her legs wouldn't move. She gritted her teeth and tried to force herself to move – and something grabbed her arm.

Scorn saw the girl, and heard her scream. 

"What –" he began, and dashed forward, and then he never was clear about what happened next. He grabbed the girl's wrist, trying to stop her being dragged away, and she screamed and screamed and whatever was dragging her was stronger than he was. His muscles ached. 

And then he was dragged forward a little, and _he saw it…_

Their fingers were parting. He clutched her dress, at the shoulder, but it was no good, his nails screed down the fabric as his fingers tangled in a necklace…

And then a foot slammed into his stomach, kicked him off the girl, and he flew towards the concrete wall, and then everything went all dark and star-filled and nothingy.

Yo-Yo heard Mew screaming, and ran, pushing his legs to the limit.

She's okay, he told himself, she's gotta be, she won't have – well, nothing will have happened, boy am I gonna yell at her for scaring me like this –

And suddenly the screams stopped.

Good. 

Except that they'd been cut off, and that couldn't be good, ever.

He skidded round the corner, and stopped.

Sprawled on the ground, blood dribbling from an icky-looking wound on his head, lay Scorn, unconscious. 

And he was clutching something silver.

Yo-Yo bent down, and suddenly felt very, very sick.

The guy was holding Mew's necklace. The chain was snapped.

"Hey, what's all the screaming about?" a familiar Australian voice called down the pipe.

Yo-Yo couldn't speak. He couldn't think. 

Tracer, Hexadecimal and a Poison Jammer came strolling round the corridor. 

"We heard yelling," Hex said. "What – oh, shit!"

Yo-Yo turned to face them. 

"What's happened, mate?" Tracer asked. 

"He – he took Mew," Yo-Yo said, wondering as he did why he was saying this. Because Mew wasn't gone. She couldn't be gone. Not her too. They'd said this was safe. It had been safe.

But it wasn't now.

"I came round the corner and found him lying here, clutching her necklace."

"He doesn't look too good," Tracer said, staring at Scorn. "Maybe we should get him to hospital or something."

_"Are you crazy?" _Yo-Yo yelled. "We shouldn't get him to a hospital, we should get him to a hitman! He's just kidnapped Mew, on top of everyone else, and you want to save him?"

"Yeah," the Poison Jammer said. "We shouldn't take him to hospital, we need him to act out House On 13th Street II –"

"Shut up!" Yo-Yo gripped his temples. "Just shut up about that dumb movie for one bloody second!"

"Hey, cool down," Hex said. 

Yo-Yo restrained himself from hitting her with great difficulty.

"Fine," he said at last. "You save his fucking life, but I'm out of here. Because if I spend one more second anywhere near him, I am going to kill him."

And he skated away.

Gum followed Garam into the garage. Piranha was sitting there, playing pinball alone.

"Hey, where's everyone else?" Gum asked.

"Tab, Yo-Yo and Mew went out to the park again," Piranha said. 

"Oh, great."

"Any luck with your Onishima-terrorising mission?"

Gum shrugged. "We've made progress."

Suddenly the door flew open and hit the wall. Gum spun round to see a furious-looking Yo-Yo standing there.

"She's gone," he gasped. "And that renegade, he – it was him."

"What?" Piranha whirled round from the pinball table. "Mew got nabbed by Scorn?"

"It can't have been him," Gum said.

"Oh, yeah?" Yo-Yo snarled. "He was at the scene of the fucking crime, Gum!"

"No, he wasn't, he was holed up in a derelict house in Shibuya," Garam said.

"Prove it."

"All right, we will!" Gum snapped. "Come on!"

Kell looked up as the door to the room was unlocked, and the four GGs burst in.

"What – what the – where the fuck is he?" Gum yelled.

"Scorn? He went out the window," Kell said. "Said he had a hunch as to who the bad guy was, and scarpered."

"See?" Yo-Yo said. "I told you it was him. And it could've been her as well, you don't know that she didn't go out and come back in again!"

"Geez, gummi bear, don't you get tired of talking out of your own ass all the time?" Kell snapped, yanking up the collar of her Poison Jam shirt as it slid down her shoulder. "What's pissed you off, anyway?"

"Mew's gone," Garam said, glowering at Kell. "Pity you and renegade couldn't have stayed put, then we'd actually have some proof you were innocent."

"I am innocent," Kell retorted. "Unless you're a paranoid psycho like dough-boy there –" She hooked a thumb at Yo-Yo. "In which case I'm the Anti-Christ."

Yo-Yo opened his mouth, but Piranha cut in, "Hey, cool it, you guys. Kell's right, there's no proof it was her."

"Thank you," Kell said.

"But as some people ain't convinced, she can stay here a little longer, right?"

"She can get out," Yo-Yo said. "Like he did."

"Not if we take the table away," Piranha said calmly. "The windows are too high up then. That suit you, Kell?"

"If it proves the gummi bear wrong, I guess we have to do it." Kell rolled her eyes.

"I ain't wrong," Yo-Yo said, curling his fists. "And as soon as I prove it, you're dead."

The sun was setting as Yo-Yo, Piranha and Tab trailed down to the park.

"Maybe we shouldn't go back here," Tab said at last. "I mean – Mew…"

"Yeah, but Scorn ain't gonna be doing nothing for a long time, he looked like shit, and Kell's locked up," Yo-Yo said, kicking a stone, which rattled along the road and ricocheted off the wall. "So we're safe."

There was a heavy silence, and then Piranha said, "But what if it wasn't –"

"It was, okay?" Yo-Yo glowered at her. "It was her, and now Mew's gone too. And whatever's happening to her you know she can't take it –"

"Hey, lay off her," Tab said. "She's a GG too."

"I know that," Yo-Yo growled. "That's the point. She's a GG and those punks took her away. There's five of us left now, you realise? Half. This keeps up we'll all be gone."

"No, we won't." Piranha shivered, the burning sun glowing in her eyes. "Look, all every rudie needs to do is not go into the full-pipe. And if it was Scorn and Kell, then we're safe anyway."

They reached the park.

"I don't like it," Tab said as they stepped through the gates.

"What, it's too quiet?" Piranha snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Oh, real funny. No, it's too tense."

Piranha glanced round the park. It was about half-full. Little groups of rudies were splashed over the concrete, whispering, glaring, shouting at each other.

Tab was right. The air hummed with tension, like it would break any moment. 

Yo-Yo looked round for the Noise Tanks, and charged over to them, Piranha and Tab following.

"What'd you do to Scorn?" he asked.

"Took him to Shibuya Hospital," Tracer said. "Look, don't go nuts – if he's it, when he wakes up he can tell us where everyone is."

Yo-Yo scowled, but didn't argue.

"Look," Piranha said. "I was thinking maybe the full pipe should be put outta bounds or something."

"Who're you, Onishima?" Slash sneered.

"Oh, and you want to lose another member?"

"Okay," Tracer said. "Let's talk to the other rudies. See what they think."

Some time later…

The full pipe entrance and exit were blocked off with piles of street debris – old traffic cones, barrels, miscellaneous bits of wood. 

"That won't stop anyone," Slash said.

"No, but it'll point out to any rudies we should really stay out of it."

"I don't see why we should," Hex said. "Scorn's in hospital and Kell's in the sewers."

The GGs kept their mouths shut.

"Nothing'll happen," the Noise Tank continued. "We're safe, and this is just panic."

"What the fuck're you talking about?" Yo-Yo yelled. "We all thought it was safe this morning, and now Mew's vanished!"

"Yeah, well, Scorn escaped, didn't he?"

"Maybe he's done that again. Or maybe Kell's out now. This full-pipe is dangerous, okay?"

"Let's just test that, shall we?" Hex said. "I'll skate through it from here to the end. If I come out okay, we take down the barrier and stop actin' like headless chickens. If I don't, then maybe you got a point."

Everyone watched as she stepped over the barrier and into the black pool of shadow that was the mouth of the full-pipe. The clack of her skates on concrete faded as she turned a corner.

"Come on," Tracer said, swallowing. "Let's get to the end of it, to meet her."

They skated round to the full pipe exit, shadows stretched out behind them over the orange-tinted concrete, and waited.

And waited.

The full pipe remained silent. 

"No," Tracer said at last. "No way."

"Told you it was dangerous," Yo-Yo muttered.

Tracer whirled on him and smacked him hard in the mouth. "Just shut the fuck up!"

Yo-Yo pressed a hand to his mouth, rubbing away blood, and slammed the other one into Tracer's stomach.

"Stop it!" Piranha yelled.

"Why should he?" Megabyte growled. "Maybe you deserve it, maybe it was you GGs after all!"

"What?" Tab yelled. "Are you nuts? We just lost five members, or did you have a power cut to your brain?"

Megabyte raised his fists. "Kell lost two members, and that didn't stop anyone suspecting her."

"Well, maybe it was you lot!" Piranha snapped. "After all, you lost a bunch of people too! Or maybe it was the Poison Jammers! Or Onishima! We don't fucking know! Just quit it!"

A silence fell over the park as the daylight slipped away.

"Whatever," Tracer at last. He turned to the other Noise Tanks. "Come on, guys, let's get back."

"Just call her," Megabyte said. "Maybe she's goofing around."

Tracer shrugged, but walked over to the full pipe, and hollered Hexidecimal's name into the darkness.

No answer.

Gum angrily threw paint onto the bus. She was shaking with fury.

So it had taken Mew now. Mew who cried easily and was cute and – and oh, lord, what the hell was happening to her?

_Wouldn't you like to know?_

The voice – familiar now – hissed through her brain like smoke.

_Maybe you should come down and see. _

"Get stuffed," Gum said. Man, she needed more sleep.

_Close your eyes and watch. I can show what's happening to them._

"No." 

_Close your eyes._

"No!" 

A high scream tore through her head, a familiar scream, Mew, Mew, Mew…

"You two-bit dirty cowardly bastard!" Gum yelled. "You're sitting there hiding in the dark taunting me, you wouldn't dare do that if we were face to face!"

_But we will be, Gum-chan. Face to face for ever and ever…_

"Gum?"

She jumped, and turned to face Garam.

"Who are you talking to?"

Gum shrugged. "No one."

Someone.

Hearing voices now. 

But who? 


	11. Underwear again!

Chapter 11 – by Tei/Disk

"You know what this means, right?" Tab said. "It means that it wasn't Scorn or Kell."

"You're making assumptions, fuzzball," Yo-Yo said. "I'll bet you lots of yen that if we checked on them now, they'd both be gone."

"There's no way for us to get to the hospital or that house in time, they could beat us there by taking backroads." Piranha crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry, but I just don't see us finding them guilty on this one!"

"These fences are too high to jump over from anything but the telephone wires, but even then we'd be able to know someone was on them from anywhere on the ground!" Yo-Yo clenched a fist. "They haven't gone up there yet. I'm gonna go peak on our Love Shocker lady. You guys can--"

"Stay here on guard duty? Yeah, yeah, not a problem...leave us out of all the fun why don'cha..."

"You'll be okay, just keep an ear out for wire-grinders or something."

---

Garam hated to leave her like this, but she needed the rest. He brushed golden locks of hair from her face with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Gum. I gotta go do this—you're not well. Get some sleep, you've been a total mess, huh? I'm gonna...I'll go to the park and sort this entire thing out before you wake up, you'll see."

He pulled the blanket up over her body. She shifted and groaned, her helmet fell over her eyes. Garam smiled and got up.

"God, I wish I felt more confident..." He sighed and headed out of the Garage.

---

Yo-Yo stopped in front of the old house with a hand resting against the splintered, rotted wood door. His breath rose and fell like lumps of bricks—he was sure he was right. He was sure.

"Then why'm I hesitatin?" He murmured. He closed his eyes and willed everything to just disappear when it was all gone...Slate, Beat, Cube, Combo, Mew...they'd all be back once he opened them. He'd be back at the skate park. One of the Noise Tanks would've knocked him silly, and he'd wake up with the sun shining in his eyes. It'd all be allright.

He opened his eyes and sighed. The rough wood was still beneath his hand. Splinters dug into his fingers. He pushed the door open and stepped inside; there was Kell, sleeping in the far corner. He checked on her; her breath was heavy, she wasn't faking. With a sigh, Yo-Yo walked back out and closed the door behind him.

"It wasn't her," He murmured. "It had to have been the renegade."

He turned and went for the hospital next.

---

"He hasn't moved one little bit?" he asked.

"Not at all," the doctor said, looking at his clipboard. "He's still feeling the effects of the painkillers. He'll be wide awake in a few days for sure, but now he's nothing but a giant ball of lethargy."

Yo-Yo stared at the prone Scorn with a derisive sneer.

"Gum was right," He muttered.

"Hmm?"

"I said, 'Gum was right.' Gum's our sister, she said this guy'd be outta it for a while."

"This guy sure has a lot of siblings...the guy that brought him here said he was a brother." The doctor coughed. "He had an Australian accent and none of you look the same. Oh...we've got to set up some IV tubes now, so if you wouldn't mind..."

"Got'cha. I'm outta here."

---

Garam came to the entrance of the park and glanced around—nobody. Not a soul. No Yo-Yo, Tab or Piranha. No Noise Tanks, no Poison Jam, no Love Shockers, no renegades, nobody. He half-expected a tumbleweed to roll by. He kept glancing up at the sky, expecting gray to ice over the blue. Come on, it was the stereotype for a ghost town, why did it have to be sunny now? He skated through the park, his wheels scraped and clacked against the dry ground. He checked every bowl, every pipe, every grind rail.

"Empty." He ran a hand across his scalp. "Totally empty."

"Mmm...not quite..."

Garam whirled to face the speaker—a voice of gravel in a cement mixer. Nobody was there.

"Okay, don't bullshit around with me," Garam said. "I know you're there. I don't like playing games. Get the hell out here now so we can settle this man to man."

"Cliches now? How...droll."

Garam whipped his head about, but still there was nothing. He clenched his fists.

"Who...what are you?"

"You remember what the girl said a few days ago?" the voice said. "She said that this park hated her. It spoke with a voice, right to her mind, it hated her."

"Yeah...?"

"Well, I do. I hate her. And I hate you, too..."

Quite suddenly there was a flash of movement, and all was quiet once again.

---

"Wake up...come on, wake up already!!"

"Help me...Gum!"

"Wakey wakey, Gum-chan! ...Hell-OOO?"

"Gum...please! Help...I need...ack..."

Gum screamed and sat bolt upright. Yo-Yo smirked.

"About time. Where's Spidey?" 

"Garam? He—oh geez, I don't know!" Gum brushed her fingers across her cheek. "He and I were tagging, but then we came back here, and...wait, what are you doing here?"

Yo-Yo growled. "You were right. You were mother-fucking right!!!"

"Huh?"

"God damn it—a Noise Tank disappeared when we went back to the park. Went into the full-pipe and didn't come out. You know what I did then? I told Tab and 'Rhana to stay put and watch out for any high-grinders. You know the phone lines always buzz when people grind 'em and that's the only way to get outta the park without usin' the exit."

"What's your point, damn it?! Why are you yelling at me?"

"FUCK!!" Yo-Yo charged at the map in the glass case and kicked at it, spraying the car with shards. "Fuck fuck fuck!! I went and checked—Kell's still in the house, Scorn's been doped ever since we left him there! It wasn't them!"

"I knew it!" Gum said.

"But that's only two we don't have to blame, what about Onishima or the other Rudies?" Yo-Yo whirled. His fingers dug so tightly into his fists that scarlet tears trailed down between his fingers. "Gum, god damn it, Mew is gone!! Beat and Slate and Combo are gone, how can anyone take mother-fucking Combo without makin a riot?!"

"I don't know. It wasn't Kell or Scorn."

"Glad we're on the same page! Gum, whoever—whatever's been doing this got muscle. Come on—we gotta figger out what's going on with all this!"

"We'll get Kell first," Gum said, climbing to her skates. She rolled over to the closet and shuffled the contents around. She came out with a decent outfit. "She'll hate us forever if we keep her in that Poison Jam suit."

---

Gum, Yo-Yo and Kell stared over the skate park.

"Empty to the last drop," Kell murmured. Gum elbowed her.

"It's four. The Rudies all wouldn't just be—be gone at a time like this, would they?" Yo-Yo asked.

"No, they wouldn't," Kell said.

"Tab and Piranha now, too..." Gum glanced at Yo-Yo. "Everyone else, just..."

"Gone? I noticed."

Tracer sidled up next to Yo-Yo and leaned against the rail. Weariness was almost a visible aura around his body, it seeped out of his joints and spoke long tales in body language. Thrash came up behind him, her perpetual scowl worsening at the sight of Kell.

"What are you two—" Gum began.

"I went off to check on her," Tracer said, hooking a thumb at Kell. "Found the refrigerator in the way, managed to move it with some help. We got Thrash and the other two out, and she and I sat down for a little chat whilst the other Poison Jammers retreated to the park. By the time we got here, we saw that GG—the one with the Spider-Man fly goggles—skate in here. He started shouting at himself, and then it just went silent real quick. We looked inside, and he was gone. So was everyone else."

"Garam...?" Gum blinked. "No, you must'a seen someone else...Garam wouldn't inspect this place alone."

"He did," Thrash grunted. "I ain't the smartest in the world but I never forget a face, especially a GG face."

The words reached Gum, but slid through her ears without registering. No, Garam wasn't gone, he was probably still out tagging somewhere...somewhere...oh God...

Gum scowled and turned away. Don't cry, she told herself. Don't cry. Not in front of them. They don't deserve to see me so weak.

A silvery tear spilled down her cheek. She sniffed—great, no use stopping it now. She turned away and hugged herself tightly.

"Well, what do you think we do, Aussie?" Yo-Yo asked.

"We've gotta figure something out that doesn't involve us getting snatched by whatever's going at us."

"It's gotta be tired if it just cleaned out the entire park," Kell said. "Maybe we should go now while it is."

"That's pretty smart thinking. If you weren't a Rudie you'd make a damn good cop."

They turned their heads to see Onishima standing with his six-shooter twirling on one finger.

"Oh, please go away," Thrash said. "I wanna rip your spleen out and eat your prostate, but I'm just not in the mood."

"Listen, punks...I know we've never seen eye-to-eye, but something you guys have been ignoring is that my people were down there with yours, and now they're all gone. I wouldn't be captain if I didn't watch out for them." He scuffed the toe of his boot on the concrete. "Be—besides, my daughter...my daughter was..."

"Your daughter was a renegade, Cap'n. I happened to be good friends with her." Tracer smirked. "She told me quite a few things, that was one of them."

"A Rudie?" Yo-Yo said.

"Yeah. A Rudie." Onishima spit the word like a vile poison.

"Look, this is important now," Kell said. "Shorty, how much forces you got left? If we can—I dunno, distract this thing with a tank or helicopter..."

"Nothing like that." Onishima shook his head. "It's best if we did detective work now and tried to blow shit up later."

"Oh, that works for this case but whenever it comes to dealing with Rudies, 'detective work' gets flushed down the shitter, huh?"

---

"This entire thing circulates around this damn pipe." Gum placed her front wheel inside. "Everyone who disappeared went in here, or was at least nearby."

"Do you think it could take all of us at once?" Onishima asked.

"It took down Combo by itself, and made an entire stampede of Jay and Silent Bob-ified Poison Jammers disappear. I'd say there's a pretty fair chance of that happening unless it were exhausted."

"Then let's not dawdle, hmm?" Tracer stepped past Gum and disappeared into the shadows. Gum didn't hesitate, followed him down. The others broke through the shadow and began the steady march.

"Beat said that he lost Matrix in that narrow part of the pipe," Yo-Yo said. "I'll bet that's where this...thing is."

They got there. Water from the previous rain stained the floor. Kell crept forward, glancing left and right, up and down—then she tripped on a small stone, stumbled forward and landed with a grunt.

"Are you all right?" Gum said.

"I'm fine, but—my hand..."

Gum squeezed past the others and Kell. She kneeled beside the Love Shocker.

"Look," Kell said. She drew her hand from the shadows, then stuck it back in, almost up to her shoulder. "There's a hole here. Shorty, gimme the flashlight!"

Onishima passed it along, and Kell shone it along the edges—it was a ragged cut, hidden just between two bends. No matter what, sunlight or moonlight would never fall on it. Nobody would have ever noticed it if they went looking.

"That thing's awful small, I don't think even Beat could have been pulled through it." Gum frowned.

"We don't know that what we're dealing with is a small person, do we?" Tracer asked.

"True, but how could anything that small take out Combo?"

"Will ya stop comparing everything to that guy?!" Thrash grunted. "Besides, Aussie is right—there've been plenty of small Poison Jammers that could take out the toughest sons of a bitch easy."

"Even if this is where this thing lives, how could any of us fit down there?" Onishima asked.

"I don't think any of us can."

"You could," Kell said, glancing at Gum.

"Me? Why me?" 

__

Oh, they'd better not be trying to get back at me for not coming here...

"If you took off your helmet and your skates, you'd be able to wiggle through."

"But—we don't know where this goes, what if I get stuck, or—or—"

"Take this line with you," Onishima said, passing her a coil of rope. Tug on it and start shouting if there's trouble."

"Aren't you the Boy Scout?" She said. She grabbed the rope and proceeded to take off her skates and helmet—she passed them all to Yo-Yo. She kicked her feet into the hole

__

(You won't come back from this)

Her socks ran across damp stone, not really smooth but not really rough...there were a lot of them. Finding a foothold would be easy

__

(You'll get stuck and never get out, never never never never)

Gum shimmied forward. Her legs were inside now. This would be a tight fit. Kell shone the light around Gum's legs—there were lots of rock edges jutting out. It'd be easy for her clothes to get caught.

"Don't look," Gum whispered. Her throat was dry, and no matter how much she swallowed it wouldn't moisten up again. The others glanced away. Gum unzipped her dress, peeled it away and tossed it against the far wall. Left in her underwear, she scooted down until she'd been swallowed up entirely.

She climbed down. It took ages, and Kell's light disappeared, eaten by darkness. There were no side-paths, just one long, steep downward climb. The tunnel had a slight right twist to it. Stones scraped her back and stomach and arms and legs, dirty water stained her fingers and face

__

(You'll never see the others again)

"Shut up," she growled

__

(They'll forget about you and leave you to rot, to die)

Her rope drew taut. She let out the last bit of the coil and continued down. It drew taut again, and then slack.

"He lost the rope," She whispered. "No..."

Her foot landed on a slick rock. She slipped and landed on her stomach, her jaws clacked together, blood swilled up in her mouth

__

(Die abandoned and forgotten, alone, nobody to hear your pathetic screams)

She began to slide. The stone became smooth, she scrabbled for purchase on something, anything. She threw out her arms and pushed hard against the sides of the tunnel, then used her feet in the same fashion—she stayed. She waited until the ache in her lungs became dull and her breath returned, and pressure-crawled downward.

The tunnel got tighter, her breath came out in short, panicked bursts.

__

Oh god Oh god I'm going to be stuck down here in this dank abyss forever and there won't be anyone to save me then—

Quite suddenly, the tunnel disappeared. She slid the rest of the way out and landed in a puddle on her rear. She thanked Yo-Yo for splashing her with cold water once—she made sure she never wore white underwear again. It hadn't been funny at the time, but when—if she got back to the others, she didn't want to give them any more of a free show than she'd be doing already.

Gum rose to her feet. A flickering light hung overhead, dim and yellowed and covered with dirt so that it cast wild, bestial shadows across jutting rocks and iron cages.

Cages?

She looked around her—this entire room was lined with cages, most of them full. Her claustrophobia lifted and the cotton in her ears went away. The light bulb buzzed, water dripped to the floor, people sobbed quietly in their sleep.

Gum walked around the room—Love Shockers, Noise Tanks, Poison Jammers, renegades, Keisatsu. All here. She passed by that Love Shocker that she'd seen Kell with more often than the others—Akina, her name was? She was thin and shivering, her shirt was missing.

Wait—didn't someone say that the Poison Jammer saw someone wearing a Love Shocker shirt? And Akina had been one of the first to disappear...

The next cage held—

"Oh god, Beat!!" Gum kneeled down in front of the cage and poked his shoulder through the bars—he stirred, groaned, shook his head. "Come on," she hissed, "wake up you lazy bastard!" She couldn't help grinning. He was alive! He was okay—and if he was, then the others...

"Mmm...Gum? Oh geez, Gum, did he get you too?" Beat ran a hand through his hair. His headphones and goggles rested at his feet. "Nice undies, by the way."

She giggled despite herself. "You're alive. You're really alive!"

"Yeah, kinda wish I was dead, though...this has been hell, Gum-chan." He stared at her with pleading eyes. "I haven't eaten or drank anything since before Cube and I came back. Every time, I see that damn chimera come back down here with someone else—someone new, someone I know or don't know. How many are left, Gum?"

"Not a lot," she said. "Me, Yo-Yo, Tracer, Thrash, Kell and Onishima. And Scorn, but he's kind of stoned on painkillers..."

"Onishima? What happened to Scorn?"

"This—what did you call it, a chimera?—was trying to get Mew, I guess, and he was there and tried to stop it...I'm doing this based on assumption, mind you. The chimera probably thrashed him, which explains some of his more bizarre wounds. And Onishima's kind of in a similar boat to the rest of us...he's looking out for his people and the citizens of Tokyo."

"Glad to hear it." Beat rolled his eyes. "Rudies don't count there."

"Look, where's—where's the others? Is there any way for me to get you outta this?"

"Don't think we haven't tried. You'll need some serious tools to cut through those padlocks. Even Combo couldn't break 'em, and the chimera doesn't keep keys. The rest of us're scattered around here somewhere. If you're looking for Garam, he's right next door."

"Gum-chan, is that you?"

"Wha...Gum's here?"

"Yeah, she is! She's here, we've been found!"

Rudies and Keisatsu began to wake up and cheer. They'd been found indeed, they were saved by a girl in her underwear! Gum blushed and ducked behind Garam's cage. Amongst the cheering, she and he managed to talk quietly.

"Are you all right? What were you thinking in coming here all alone like this?!" Gum whispered, tears spilling down her face.

Garam grinned. "I wanted to solve this mystery for ya. I just couldn't let you suffer."

"You idiot." She grinned back.

"YOU!"

Very suddenly, all noise stopped, every voice hushed. Footsteps drew near, but where were they coming from?! Gum braced herself against Garam's cage. She reached out and grabbed a metal pipe lying on the ground.

And then it emerged, and Gum had a brilliant flashback.

__

The Golden Rhinos have been silenced forever thanks to the GGs, but the Keisatsu and the Rokkaku Group are still digging deep into the bowels of the operation that only Goji's most trusted men knew about! Toji Rokkaku was disgusted by a lot of the loathsome creatures Goji'd been creating down there--that's right, creating! The Golden Rhinos' scientific end had a branch dedicated to the creation of chimeras, man-made hybrids of many different species! One of the cages they found deep below the Rokkaku Tower's remains was empty...

The chimera was male; he only wore some tight blue jeans, so identifying wasn't too hard. His skin was shiny and unnaturally gray, its hair was stringy and purple. He was small, barely over five feet tall and very thin.

"You're the chimera!" Gum cried. "That escaped one from the Rokkaku Tower, the one Professor K talked about!"

The chimera continued to walk toward her. Every step concealed weariness, but barely. Kell was right—he was tired from all the work he'd just done. Gum clenched the pipe and hurdled Garam's cage; she swung with all her might. The pipe crashed full into the chimera's face.

Nothing happened.

"My skin," the chimera said, "is made of stone."

Gum dropped the pipe and ran. The chimera bounded after her, but she had the advantage—she wasn't bone-tired and she was on an adrenalin rush. She ran through thick clouds of shadow, leaving the Rudies and Keisatsu behind. Her toe stubbed a risen rock and she tumbled across some stairs; ignoring the pain, she hauled herself up and ran. 

It was an eternity before cool breezes of fresh air began to whip around her. Above, moonlight shone down through a drainage grate...and quite suddenly, it all made sense.

Gum shoved through the grate. It clattered against the wall with a bang. She scrambled out and it slammed closed again. She was in the full-pipe again.

"Get out of here!!" she yelled. "It's coming after me—move it, get out of here!"

Ignoring the biting chills of sudden evening, Gum ran.


	12. Got a problem? Blow it up

Chapter 12 – by Tallulah

Gum dashed down the full pipe, wishing she had her skates. She couldn't go fast enough, her feet were too slow, catching on the concrete ground, legs aching so bad, help me help me help me…

"Gum? Gum, you okay?"

Yo-Yo's voice rang down the pipe, distorted by the echo.

"Run!" Gum screamed, so loud her throat hurt. "Just run!"

She heard them start to move, and tried to make herself dash faster, but her legs suddenly seemed heavy, too heavy, useless, she wasn't moving quick enough, it was gonna catch her. Catch her and shove her in a cage with the others, and no one else would be able to get down there, she yelped as she stubbed her toe on the concrete. Breath was rasping in her ears. She'd starve. Like the others were. Help me…

And suddenly there was the edge of the pipe, and there was the twilight sky, and there was freedom…

And there were footsteps slamming into the ground behind her, and a low snarl of rage…

Gum kicked herself off from the ground, and ran so fast her surroundings blurred until she reached the gate.

_I'll get you! I'll get you! You can't get away from me!_

Out of the park, down the street…lucky there weren't many pedestrians around. She was starting to shiver, the water seeping into her skin was icy.

"Gum!"

She looked round. Thrash, Tracer, Yo-Yo, Kell and Onishima were lurking across the road. Onishima was standing a little apart from the other four, not looking at all happy about his position.

Gum ran over to them, dodging a car. 

"You okay?"

"What happened?"

"Who's down there?"

Gum tried to speak, but her throat was hurting too much. Hands shaking, she took her dress from Kell and pulled it back over her head. Warmth. 

"I couldn't take your skates," Kell said. "They were too heavy. Ditto your helmet. Sorry."

Gum shrugged as she zipped up the dress. Her hands were shaking.

"It's – it's a chimera," she gasped. "He's got them all locked up down there, in cages, they can't get out, he's starving them to death, he's got skin made of stone and he's very angry."

"So what's the good news?" Yo-Yo said.

"Um…I think everyone's still alive?" The feeling was slowly returning to Gum's frozen feet. Grit. Rain. Scratches. "Oh, and there's a drainage grate that leads down to his lair, further along the pipe. That's where I got out."

"So – what do we do?" Tracer said at last.

"Simple," Thrash said. "We go down through the grate and mash him."

"Did you even listen?" Gum snapped. "He's made of stone! You could attack him with a chainsaw and nothing would happen!"

"Well, we gotta do something!" Thrash snarled at her. "That motherfucker's nabbed my entire gang! Nobody kidnaps the Poison Jam and gets away with it!"

"Yeah, cos nobody wants 'em," Yo-Yo muttered.

Thrash whirled on him, colossal fists raised.

"Quit it," Tracer said. "I know what we can do."

"Oh, yeah, what?" demanded Onishima.

"Shorty, you've got a bunch of weapons at your disposal, right?"

"I guess. No one to stop me, anyway, because most of the police force is down under that damn park."

Tracer nodded. "Okay. Yo-Yo, I'd say you're the fastest of us, aren't you?"

"Yep." Yo-Yo grinned. "And I got some new netrium upgrades a few days ago. I'm hell on wheels."

"How's this for a plan, then?" said Tracer. "Shorty gives us a bunch of high-explosives. Then, while Yo-Yo lures the chimera away, the rest of us plant the explosives around the park. We free the prisoners, get the hell outta there, and then kaboom. No more chimera."

There was a short silence.

"When you say 'lure the chimera'," Yo-Yo said at last, "you mean 'get chased by an insane and homicidal super-strength hybrid with stone skin.' Right?"

"Yep."

"Crap."

"What if we don't get out of the park in time?" Gum said. "Some of the prisoners look pretty weak. They won't be able to move fast."

"That's a risk we'll have to take," Tracer said. "Come on, mate. That thing ain't gonna listen to reason, is it? And it's not gonna be taken down with normal weapons, like Gum said. It's either this, or leave the park altogether, and then it'll just start sneaking out of the park and nabbing people off the streets…"

Everyone glanced at the park, and then inched a little further away from it.

"Can't we tell Toji about it?" Kell said at last. "It's his family pet, after all."

"All he can do is bash down the park," Onishima said. "And he mayn't want to. He mayn't believe us."

"I'd believe us," Thrash said.

"Well he won't. I hate to admit it, but the techno-boy's right. This is the only way."

"But – but that means the park'll be destroyed," Kell said. "It's the coolest place ever and it'll be vaporised."

Yo-Yo looked over at the park, which lay beneath the darkened sky like a miniature city.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "But – there's nothing else we can do. It was fun there, but – but…"

Tracer sighed. "Sorry, mates."

Thrash growled and kicked the wall.

"Huh." Onishima grunted. "I don't know what you're all complaining about. You get to go back on the streets, destroy public property, and give me a damn heart attack, and I have to spend morning, noon and night trying to take you down."

"Oh, come on, Shorty, you know you love it really," Gum said, grinning as she remembered how enthusiastic he'd looked when he'd caught up with her, Garam and Disk, that hot crazy day in Kogane-cho.

Seemed ages away. 

Because now Garam and Disk were both locked up under the concrete. 

And she had to get them out.

"Come on," she said. "Let's take that stone freak down."

***

It was darker now.

Gum stood at the entrance to the park. She felt sick. Too much of this plan seemed to depend on her. And if she goofed up, it didn't just mean prison or something, it meant a grim and fiery death. One little slip-up in timing, one stumble, one clumsy grip, could kill her.

Her stomach trembled, and she closed her eyes a moment.

She was wearing Tracer's skates – no one wanted to risk going back to the full pipe for hers. Her toes were sore, pinched in different places, her heels were sliding around over the sweaty soles, and she was wobbling on the caterpillar tracks.

Tracer, Kell, Thrash and Onishima stood behind her, all clutching boxes of what looked like the Rokkaku Group's entire stock of anything that exploded. Gum wished her hands weren't sweating so much, and gripped the bolt cutters more tightly.

"Once we set these off, you have ten minutes," Kell hissed. "Ready, Yo-Yo?"

Yo-Yo nodded. His face was almost the same shade as his hoodie.

"Good luck," Gum hissed, and watched as his shadow shrank into the full pipe. She shivered. No going back now. She wanted to hyperventilate, and cold sweat was prickling all over her body.

"Hey, guys, you in here?" Yo-Yo's voice rang out into the quiet night. "Guys?"

"Nice impression of someone who doesn't know what's going on," Kell murmured. "I only hope he remembers what he's meant to be doing."

Gum nodded. 

"It's coming closer," she whispered.

She could feel the chimera, creeping up the tunnel, cold on her mind.

_I'll get you, I'll get you all, come down into the ground, in the dark…_

"Run," she whispered. "Yo-Yo, run…"

And then she heard the click of skates on concrete, and the fury in her mind exploded outward – _COME BACK HERE!_

"Now," she said, and they crept forward. Tracer, Thrash, Kell and Onishima separated from her, disappearing into the dark pool of night. 

Now she was alone. She took a deep breath, and carried on towards the full-pipe.

_I'll get you! You can't escape!_

It wasn't too close. Yo-Yo had gone out the other end of the pipe and the chimera with him. Its rage was pulsing on the edge of her consciousness like a warning lamp.

Now.

She crept into the dark pipe. Tiles of moonlight patterned the floor.

Dripping of water.

Footsteps.

Faraway traffic.

What if it was here? What if it knew _she _was here? What if it was going to grab her any second…what if…what if…

She stopped. Her legs were shaking too much for her to skate, and tears were stinging her eyes.

Stop it, she told herself. You can't afford to panic. You gotta save them. Beat and Tab and Mew and everyone. And Garam.

At the thought of him she started to move again.

I mean, she thought, the worst that can happen is you get blown to bits.

Eeep.

Past the narrow point – please don't let him be there –

And along towards the drainage grate.

Wait…

_I'll kill you! When I get hold of you I'll rip you up! I hate you!_

Getting closer.

Gum eased open the grate. It creaked. 

The chimera's rage was building in her mind like lava…

She dived through the grate, and crept down the stairs, gripping the wall to stop her skates slipping on the damp stony surface. 

Keep walking.

But how long had she got?

And now she was back in the cavern. The light seemed even dimmer now.

"Guys?" she called, trying to keep her voice low. "Everyone? I've come to get you out of here, but we have to move fast."

She hurried over to the first cage and brought the bolt-cutters down on the padlock. Her muscles burned for a moment, then the cutters bit through the lock, and the cage door swung open. 

She dashed from cage to cage, chopping at the locks, not stopping to see who she was freeing, because running through her mind was the question – how much time? How much time? – and she could still hear the chimera, whispering in the back of her brain.

_More people? Good! More to come down in the dark…_

Oh, shit, he's seen them. She slammed through another padlock, now listening intently, trying to grab every word.

_That's right, run, run, you'll have to come back to this park sooner or later. I've got your friends! And now – now I'm going to get YOU!_

"Catch me if you can, dog-breath!" 

Yo-Yo's voice rang in her head.

Gum thanked her lucky stars her watch had a stopwatch function. She set it for ten minutes, and immediately the numbers began to tick down, counting away the time she had. Counting away her life, no, don't think like that…

How many cages left? The cavern was nearly full. Only three. She ran over to them – it was a Keisatsu, a renegade – and Garam.

"Gum," he said as she freed him, "what's going on?"

"I'll explain. Listen up, everybody!" she called, and her voice flew out over the cavern and bounced off the walls, showering people with waves of sound…_up, everybody…everybody…body…_

Quickly she described the situation. 

"…and we have…eight minutes till the bombs go off," she said at last. "So we head up those stairs over there, out of the drainage grate, and out of the full pipe. Then we must get out of the park, pronto. Okay? I'll go first cos I can sense the chimera. Garam, you go last and make sure no one gets left behind. Now let's move."

She wanted to make them go faster as they climbed the stairs. But that was impossible – about half of them were seriously starving, and no one was in peak condition. 

What if they didn't get out? What if the bombs went off and trapped them down here? To die – in the dark – in the cold – no – 

She almost stopped walking.

"Gum, you okay?" Beat was just behind her, being supported by Piranha.

"Yeah – yeah, I'm fine." She glanced at her watch.

Five minutes.

And there was the grate. She pushed it open, and light rushed in. 

"This way," she said, and climbed out.

The chimera wasn't far away, but he wasn't dangerous yet. Yet.

Four minutes.

So many people. Going so slowly.

__

What if she was wrong? What if the bombs had been set off earlier, and they were gonna blow any minute – 

You can't think like that. You mustn't. You gotta believe we'll get out of here because if you don't we may as well just give up and die right now.

So cold.

And there it was. The end of the pipe.

This would be the tricky bit. It could see them out in the open. And any slowing down could be fatal.

She took a gasp of night air, and kept walking.

Three minutes.

Nearly at the gate.

So close… 

"Quick," she hissed. "Just run out!"

And rudies and Keisatsu started to hurry past her like scraps of paper, ashes on a bonfire, out of the park, out into the streets, out into safety. Safe. Yes. As Garam reached her, she said, "Is that all of them?"

He nodded. "Let's get out of here!"

_GOTCHA!_

The roar of triumph burst into her brain.

"Shit! Let go of me, you stone-faced jerk –"

"Yo-Yo!" Gum yelled. 

"What?"

"He's got nabbed."

Two minutes thirty.

"I'm going to get him," Gum said. The chimera was closer now. She started to dash towards the rage and the triumph. They burned orange in her mind's eye.

There, in the dark, by one of the telegraph poles, a figure, clutching something, scurrying down towards the full pipe.

Gum took a deep breath.

"Hey, jerk!" she hollered. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

"You!" 

A hiss. Something leapt towards her. Dimly, she saw Yo-Yo break free and run for the gate.

Two minutes.

She dodged it. Her brain was humming with its thoughts. Hatred. Fury. Desperation. It made her eyes sting.

"Gum, get the fuck out of here!"

Garam. What was he doing still in the park?

And a heavy hand smacked her round the face and sent her flying into the ground. Sobbing, she struggled to her feet as pain pulsed through her jaw. 

"I won't just take you into the dark!" the chimera roared. "I'll break you up and hurt you so you can't crawl out!"

Gum's mouth throbbed. She couldn't talk properly now. There was blood around her teeth. Tears running down her face.

One minute thirty.

"Run!" Garam screamed, his voice cracking.

Gum dodged another blow, and started to dash for the gate. She could hear it, breath rasping with fury, as she dodged round a snack shack, jumped a grinding pole. Slipped, stumbled down a quarter pipe, felt the skin on her knees rip. 

Thirty seconds.

Where was the gate? She couldn't see the gate…oh help oh help…

"Gum! Gum, over here!"

She looked round, and saw a torchlight piercing the darkness. Choking for breath, she ran towards it.

"You won't get away! You won't!"

It was gaining.

Her foot slipped on a dead paint can, and she nearly fell. Had lost time. No time. Time is a gift and I don't have any. A claw brushed her dress. The torch. Focus on the torch. It had moved out of the park, stood on the street. Nearly there.

Five seconds. Was it enough? Couldn't tell. Oh please God please…

She jumped… 

Strained her leg muscles till they almost snapped…

Over the threshold…

Into the street…

Out of the park.

Glanced at her watch.

No seconds…

And behind her, there was a slow, deafening bang, and heat rushed out of the park, shoved her forward, she flew across the road and hit a shop canopy, and light, too much light, burning away her vision, and a long, loud scream that echoed in her brain…

And then the darkness again.

"Gum?"

She blinked. She could smell old rain, and smoke, and a faint scent of fried chicken.

Sitting up, she looked down from the shop canopy. Garam was staring up at her.

"You okay?" he said.

Was she? She shrugged.

"My helmet and skates were in that park," she said. "Shit."

"You wanna come down from there?"

"Might be nice."

He reached up and helped her down to the pavement.

"Is it – is it dead?" he asked.

Gum thought. Her mind was empty of any other voices and the pounding hate had gone. 

Gone at last.

"Yes," she said. "I think it is."

Garam hugged her. He was trembling.

"That," he said, "_that…_that was…horrible. I ain't never been so scared in my whole life. I hope you're satisfied."

Gum stared over at the wreckage cooling beneath the smoky sky. 

"Garam," she said, "stop moaning. We just achieved a lifelong dream."

"What?"

_"The park is dead!" _Gum yelled. "Dead! Dead, do you hear me? It's gone! I blew it to smithereens! It's dead!"

She threw back her head and shrieked with laughter.

"I knew it!" she hollered. "I knew it was a mistake to build it! And I knew it hated me! I was right!" Tears poured from her eyes as she rode a wave of joy. "I was right! I was right and they were wrong! Hallelujah! Worship me! Love me!"

Garam grinned. "Gum, you're hysterical."

"I know! And it's brilliant!" Her giggles echoed round the dark street, over the empty windows of the houses, up to the silent, black sky. It felt so good just to laugh, just to devote her entire body to laughing, her mind lightening, her stomach and face aching, tears pooling in her eyes… "I was right! I was right! _I was right!"_

Finally she stopped, and leant back against Garam. She wasn't sure why, but it seemed the right thing to do.

"Thanks," she said at last. 

"For what?"

"For waiting for me. And pratting around with a torch. You saved my life."

"Course I did."

He stroked her shoulders.

"Gum?" he said.

"Uh-huh?"

"You know you just asked the world to love you?"

"Yeah."

"I think I do."

Gum shivered. So. Something else new. But good. A kiss in the dark.

Oh…

"Garam?"

"Uh-huh?"

"You know I said I'd get my castration scissors if you so much as mentioned having sex?"

"Yep."

"Maybe I could take that back."


	13. Epilogue, or thank goodness that's over

Chapter Thirteen (Epilogue) – by Tei/Disk and Tallulah

****

Epilogue

__

A flash of movement—gray on black, hard to see. But the boy being chased made the job easier.

Cool air brushed through his greasy hair and thick stubble. The boy was tiring out, and that—that creature_ that dared step foot in _the Man's_ territory, that _dared_ steal his daughter away, was heading his way._

Yo-Yo blasted past Onishima. The chimera stopped short, spotting its new prey.

"That's right," the beast said, panting. "Run, run, you'll have to come back to this park sooner or later. I've got your friends! And now – now I'm going to get YOU!"

"Stop right there, punk!!" Onishima pulled out his gun—the real one, not that squirtgun he used on the Rudies—and aimed it straight at the chimera's head. The chimera froze. A standoff.

"I don't mind taking YOU with me too," the chimera said, his muscles tensing. "I don't mind a bit. I'll take you down with the rest and you'll be mine...my toy...forever..."

"Please." Onishima rolled his eyes. "You're so melodramatic, and_ you've crossed me. _Nobody _crosses me."_

The chimera snarled and leapt. Onishima fired off a quick shot and ducked out of the way; the chimera landed in a crouch. Blood seeped down the side of its head, blacker than tar. Onishima grabbed the chip that he'd knocked clean and stuffed it in his pocket before dropping back for Yo-Yo to charge through and tackle the chimera. He dashed off screaming, "catch me if you can, dog-breath!"

---

Onishima sat in a lush waiting room. As lush as such things can get, anyway...the floor was carpeted in golden and black checker-patterned fabric, the walls were steely gray. There was one red Rokkaku symbol on the high-center of each wall. A secretary sat behind a fancy half-circle desk. The chair he sat in was warm and comfy.

The secretary glanced up at him.

"Mr. Rokkaku will see you now," she said, pointing at the large black doors to her left, each one bearing a powerful white Rokkaku symbol. Onishima shivered at the sight, as if they were some bizarre swastikas instead. Swallowing his pride, he walked through the doors and into Toji's office.

"Captain Onishima, please sit down," Toji said, gesturing to a chair placed in front of his behemoth mahogany desk. In comparison to Toji's personal chair, the one Onishima sat in was fit more for a toddler. "I believe you've received notice of your suspension and resignation?"

"Yep," Onishima said. "That's why I'm here."

"Came to hand in your badge and gun personally? I've got a new guy lined up already, named Hayashi. He won't blow billions of my yen to all hell, I hope." The last sentence contained an edge Onishima didn't like.

"Listen, Rokkaku. I did what I had to for the people of this city and for my family!"

"Blowing up the park that I built and dedicated myself to the people who stopped my father?"

"Those very same..._people_ were in danger! They were subject to a being that could be charged with kidnapping, attempted rape, attempted manslaughter, and attempted murder, all of the first or second degree!"

"That's no excuse! I know you, you think the Rudies are filth to wipe off the soul of your shoes. Well listen up—I'm no better, but if I hadn't done _something_, the pedestrians would have had me out, and what do you think they'll do when they hear their police chief went crazy and blew up the gift?"

"Sir, if I hadn't done that then the entire city would be in trouble right now!" He shuffled around in his trenchcoat pockets and pulled out a series of snapshots Tracer had snapped of the chimera. Each one was painfully blurred, but you could tell that they weren't of something human. He tossed them all onto Toji's desk. "This thing was an escaped creature from the Golden Rhino laboratories, a chimera that your father's scientists were creating. It was kidnapping Rudies left and right, and if we hadn't blown it up and the park with it, then it would be moving into the streets right now! You wouldn't like it if pedestrians started to go missing, would you?"

Toji didn't bother to look through the pictures. He took one glance at them scattered across his desk and snarled. "Pardon my language, captain, but you're talking complete bullshit. There was _never_ any threat to—"

"Shut up!" Onishima pounded his hands on the desk and stood up. "You're going to listen to me good, Rokkaku. Your father was a poor, insane old man and I wouldn't be surprised if you went the same way, but I'm _hell-bent_ on being right this time. I don't care if it's you or some insane Martian I'm talking to, this point _will_ be proved!"

"Sit down right this minute—"

"HERE!" Onishima threw down a stack of papers. "DNA results. The sample I got off the creature matches the samples from the cage." He grabbed one last object, a plastic baggie, from his pocket, and tossed it up and down. "This is a fraction of the being's skin. All the proof is right in front of you, Mr. Rokkaku, and I could get well over three dozen Rudies and four dozen Keisatsu to testify in my defense. One of which," he added, "had a connection to the beast."

Toji stared at the evidence before him and snarled. _Damn it...if it was just a handful of Rudies this would be dismissible...but over three dozen? They always have their little squabbles amongst themselves but if they all agree on it then people will listen..._

"I'll have my men look this over _very_ carefully," Toji said at last. "But in the meantime, you're still suspended. Get out of my sight, filth."

Onishima smirked and backed out of the office. A temporary victory. Toji wouldn't be able to ignore the truth much longer.

---

Combo was chillin' in Neo Little Grind City. After filling up his belly and getting some much-needed rest, he was ready to go out and have some _fun_ again.

"So you've made this place your temporary residence, huh?"

Combo glanced up from the tag he was laying on the asphalt; Scorn was crouching on the edge of a low roof, wearing a smirk. Combo grinned, and Scorn dropped to the street.

"Well, the Garage is a great place, but it just ain't the same without the park no more, y'know? I'm not cool with dat." Combo returned to tagging. "China Town'll have to do for now."

"I think it's good we got rid of that thing," Scorn admitted, glancing up at the sky. "Though it was nice to be able to see the stars at night for a change."

"Y'all better from your drug trip?"

"Oh God." Scorn slapped his face and rubbed it. "I never, _ever_ want to get smacked around by a monster with stone skin _ever_ again. Being doped up was _no_ fun."

"Hey look, you an' me can chill." Combo finished his tag with a spin. "I know you got stuff against gangs, but I think it'd be pretty cool fer us to hang sometime, ya know?"

"Yeah." Scorn grinned. "But later, I'd better go check on Kell and she how she's doing."

"Aight man...see ya."

***

__

Scorn headed over into Shibuya, the sun warm on his back, and down to the bus terminal. Once there, he waited until four black-and-pink figures skated into it and started to slap paint onto the buses.

"Hey, Kell!" he called.

One of the figures stopped and crossed over to him. "Oh, it's you."

"Is that how you speak to your fellow suspect?"

"Very funny," Kell said. "I just wanna forget all about all that shit. Akina's back and the chimera's gone and that's the way I like it."

"Ah, don't be so spiky. You helped save everyone from what I hear." Scorn ran his eyes over her. "And you got some new clothes, I see."

"Yeah, well, from what I hear you got your skull bashed open. Why're you so cheerful?" Kell glowered. "We're back to the streets and I'm not pleased. Just because I had to work with Onishima for one evening doesn't mean I want to have the ugly little dwarf chasing me twenty-four-seven."

Scorn shrugged. "Yeah, but look on the bright side, okay Kell? You got your friends back. And come on. You can deal with Onishima. Don't tell me you didn't miss being able to paint his trenchcoat."

Kell glanced at the paint can she was gripping, then smirked. "True. Hang on. Didn't he get suspended for blowing up the park?"

"Well, then. He won't be on your back. Geez, Love Shocker, cheer up! You know, you're alive and chimera-free. Things could've been a lot worse."

She glared at him.

"You could be in pieces," Scorn said. "Or sliced up by a group of Dogma-obsessed Poison Jammers. Or – or loadsa stuff. Things actually turned out pretty good."

Kell sighed, and her glare slowly faded to a faint smile. "I guess. Well, renegade, you better get going. You're trespassing on my turf."

"You're one to talk. This is GG turf."

Kell grinned, eyes narrowed. "I know."

She turned and skated back to one of the buses. Scorn stood there, watching, squinting in the sun, until she yelled, "I said get _outta _here!"

Scorn leapt onto a railing and ground along, the air shrieking through his hair. As he got to the end of the rail, he leapt – the sun glinted on his skates – the buses – the clean white billboards dotting the terminal – and then he landed, and ambled out of the bus terminal, not looking back.

*** 

Gum walked into the garage, squinting as the bright sunlight was replaced by afternoon darkness. The air was hot and still. 

"Guys?" she called.

"Uh-huh?"

Slowly, as her eyes started to adjust to the light, she made out several slumped GG shapes.

"What the hell are you all doing in here?" she asked.

"Bein' bored," Beat said.

Gum hid a grin. "Uh – why?"

"Why not?" Tab said. He was lying flat on the sofa, arms crossed over his chest like a corpse. "No park. I wanted the park. Now the park is gone…"

Gum sighed. "Look, if Combo and me and Garam can handle it, why can't you?"

"Because," Mew said from the silent sound system, "Combo's sensible, and you and Garam are – and I can see this – you and Garam are just sooo smug you were right about the park."

Gum's grin broke through her face. "Well, maybe a little. But look, guys, I'd have thought after being practically buried alive for, like, ages, you'd be desperate to get out there and get painting."

"But what's the point?" Piranha said. "We're illegal again. We can't do it properly, people will keep trying to chase us and shoot us and gas us. In the park we could concentrated on what really mattered."

"Which is what?" Gum said. "Painting the streets. The _streets. _Expressing yourself to the world. Sure, the park's gone, and I guess it might have been quite cool…"

"Quite cool?" Yo-Yo moaned. _"Quite cool? _It was a god, Gum! It was our god!"

"It also had a chimera lurking in it," Gum said. "Guys, come outside and be rudies again. You can't stay in here forever."

"Can," Beat muttered. "I got used to being down in the dark."

Gum rolled her eyes. "Geez, you guys are so immature!" She walked over to the door. "I don't know. It's a gorgeous day, there's a ton of paint and bare walls all ready for you, the world is full of things to grind on, and all you can do is loll about in here being depressed."

"Yep," Tab said, putting his hands behind his head.

"Fine," Gum said, wrenching the door open. A cloud of dust-laden sunlight billowed in. "Well, I've got work to do. The Love Shockers are in the bus terminal, and I'm not gonna hang around letting them steal our turf."

She marched out into the hot streets, shook a paint can, and prepared to start dashing.

"Any luck?" Garam said from where he was leaning against the sun-baked concrete.

"Nope. They're being such jerks!"

Garam grinned. "Now you see why they were pissed with us."

"Ohhh…irony sucks!"

"Guys?" 

They looked round. Mew and Piranha stood in the doorway, blinking like moles.

"What are you doing out of your cave?" Gum said.

"Well, we figured, okay, the park's gone, but…the Love Shockers? We can't let them take over."

Gum grinned. "Cool. Let's get going."

The four of them began to skate down the street.

"I gotta admit, it's nice being out in the sun again," Mew said, stretching. "It's pretty nice out here –"

"Hey, guys, wait up!"

They turned. Slate and Tab were dashing down the streets towards them.

"What?" Garam called.

"We, uh, we figured seems kinda dumb not to come out. I mean, it's not like it's raining," Tab said.

"Yeah." Slate looked serious. "I mean, it's not like we get nice weather all the time. May as well make use of this day."

Gum grinned. "Yes! Six GGs? The Love Shockers won't know what hit 'em."

They dashed across the road, which shimmered with exhaust fumes, and then stopped as another voice rang out: "Yo! Guys! Wait for meeeeee!"

"Hey, gummi bear," Gum called. "What's your excu – uh, reason?"

"Well, the Love Shockers? Four chicks in skin-tight spandex?" Yo-Yo grinned. "I can't pass up that opportunity. Besides, you'd be amazed how sexy a girl can look when she's clutching a box of high-explosives."

They skated down the street into the petrol-scented bus terminal. The Love Shockers were still there, dashing from billboards to buses, leaving a rash of purple-blue-red behind them.

"Right," Gum called. "Let's go!"

"Excuse me," a new voice broke in. "You were gonna start without us, were you?"

Gum turned. Cube and Beat stood there, arms folded, faces grim, laden with paint.

"I'm your leader," Beat said. "You can't start chasing Love Shockers without my permission."

"Oh, really?" Gum looked at him. "So let me guess, you thought you'd better come out and give it to us. Otherwise this expedition wouldn't be legal."

"Exactly."

"And what're you doing here, Cube?" Garam asked.

Cube shrugged. "Uhh…lack of Vitamin D. Need sunlight. Don't want to develop rickets, now do I?"

Gum snorted and quickly tried to hide her giggles. "Oh, definitely not. Well? We gonna go get 'em, or are we gonna stand here talking?"

A slow smile spread over Cube's face.

"Let's go," she said.

And the GGs dashed forward into the bus terminal.

***

Some time later, Gum sat resting against a billboard, feeling paint start to dry on her skin. That had been a _good_ fight. 

"Hey!"

She looked up as Garam jumped across onto the platform she sat on. He was flecked with pink paint, but he was grinning.

"Hey," she called as he came to sit next to her. "Enjoy yourself?"

"You bet." Garam flexed his muscles. "The streets are ours again."

Gum glanced down at the bus terminal, where the GGs were covering up the Love Shocker tags, and felt a smirk curl over her face like a wave. "I know."

"Looks like everything's back to normal, then, don't it?" Garam said.

"I guess," Gum said. "But…I don't know…can it really be that easy?"

"Oh, come on. Everyone's fine. The PJs are thrilled to have been part of their own horror movie, they're telling each other increasingly gory descriptions of it. The Noise Tanks are all together again and they're starting to take care of Benten-cho, the Love Shockers are as bitchy and annoying as they ever were, and look, we're fine."

"Well…what about the Chimera? How could it contact me—and _why_?"

Garam let a sigh out through his nose. "He told me somethin' just before he caught me—he said that he hated you because you didn't want to play."

"To…play…?"

"He was looking for some friends, I guess." He shifted his weight. "He just went about it the wrong way, and almost killed all of us. I suppose it's justified, what we've done. But we're fine—we're _fine_. That's the important part." He smiled.

Gum leaned over and kissed him. "Mmm," she said. "We certainly are…"

Garam laughed, and kissed her back.

"Hey, guys!"

Gum leaned back from Garam to see Beat standing on a bus shelter roof.

"When you quite finished," he called. 

"Sorry." Gum kissed Garam again, then got to her feet. 

"That's better," Beat said. "Now we're all finally in agreement about where to spend our time, we don't want to waste it."

"Quit bein' so bossy," Gum said, leaping down from the platform. "Just because you're the leader. I saved your butt, remember?"

_"We_ did," Garam said, leaping down too.

"Yeah, well, that was then…"

Gum laughed as she followed Beat down towards Center Street.

Suddenly she saw a familiar figure in the town square. "Hey, it's Shorty."

"So?" Beat said.

"I just wanna talk to him. He can't hurt me, he's been suspended, remember? I'll be back in a minute."

She skated into the square, ignoring the pedestrians, and screeched to a dusty halt in front of Onishima. "Hey. How's tricks?"

Onishima squinted up at her. "What do you want, rudie?"

"Just comin' to see how you were. Heard about the suspension thing. Uh – I'm sorry."  
Onishima shrugged. "Ah, don't worry. Had to be done, didn't it? Anyway, I'll make sure Toji faces up to the truth sooner or later, he can't get rid of me that easy."

"But – but what if he doesn't give you your job back? Not that I, like, mind, but what'll you do?"

"Find another one. Hey, my lifelong dream – apart from being a cop, that is, and getting you punks slammed up in jail for good…"

"Ah, good to see you ain't changed underneath."

"As I was saying – my lifelong dream is to run my own pizza place. So if Toji does slam me, that's what I'll do. And I'll throw in a free chimera-story with every piece."

(A/N: I think this was JW's idea. Do you mind me hijacking it?)

Gum grinned. "Sounds good to me. Well, I'll see you around, Shorty."

"Whatever, rudie scum."

Gum skated back to Garam and Beat. The sun was rising, high in the sky, turning everything a warm golden-white. Tokyo-to drowsed under it. There was paint. There were baking walls. There were railings and bridges and roads. 

Park of the streets.

Boredom? Dead. At last.

THE END


End file.
